Grady Hendrix has tackled all manner of monsters and horror stories in his novels, including demons, vampires, and serial killers, with books like My Best Friend's Exorcism, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, and The Final Girl Support Group. His latest foray is into the world of witchcraft in a book that is perhaps, ironically, his most grounded novel yet, especially following the very campy How to Sell a Haunted House.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a surprisingly tender and moving novel set in the 1970s focused on a group of pregnant teens who find and reclaim their power through their discovery of witchcraft. The protagonist, Fern, is only 15 years old when she gets pregnant, and her parents see her as a problem to be sent off to Florida until she's "fixed." Wellwood House specializes in hiding these pregnant "wayward" girls away until they have their babies, give them up for adoption, and then return home where they and their families can pretend none of it ever happened.
Hendrix doesn't shy away from the horrors these girls faced, most of which were real and not magical in nature at all. Fern and her new friends are constantly insulted and patronized by every adult they know. Called sinners on a regular basis and judged harshly for their "loose" morals, we get a heartwrenching and frustrating front-row seat to what life was like for these girls when they had no options whatsoever in the time before Roe v. Wade and our current political climate obviously adds significant weight to this story.
The girls aren't allowed to do anything without adult supervision or express permission. Every part of their lives at Wellwood is planned and structured, acting more like a punishment than anything else. Of course, no one blames or says anything about the men who helped get them pregnant.
Because these girls are having children out of wedlock, they're shunned and treated like pariahs, not given any grace or help in learning what to expect as their bodies undergo such massive changes. The main doctor at Wellwood is a cruel, cold man named Dr. Vincent who treats each teen like a slab of meat. Traumatizing them further with his abysmal bedside manner and lack of empathy.
So it makes sense that when Fern and her closest friends receive a book on witchcraft from a librarian they're eager to test it out to get revenge on those who have harmed them.
And yes, there is some magical activity and dark occult stuff in the book, the kind of stuff you'd expect from a horror novel, but I do think it's worth noting that the actual witchcraft really takes a backseat to the main story about the girls and their stories. Nothing magical really happens until about 100 pages into the book, and when the ball starts rolling, it's not necessarily as fantastical as one might expect.
Still, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls was clearly a labor of love from Hendrix. You can tell he was passionate about this material and the characters. And when the villain emerges, they're as cunning and terrifying as you might expect from a darkly magical tale. I only wish that the book had involved them and witchcraft more heavily, but I understand what Hendrix was going for in telling this kind of story through a horror novel lens. And there are a few genuinely terrifying sequences, as is his signature.
It's effective, timely, and beautifully written, a nearly-500 page saga that feels like the kind of true epic these girls deserve.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is now on sale wherever books are sold.