Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
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4.4 • 21 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
"Superb ... a perfect horror for our imperfect age.” – The New York Times
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER
They were never girls, they were witches . . . .
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, frightened, and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.
Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by the adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid . . . and it’s usually paid in blood.
In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (NPR).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Get ready to feel enraged, empowered, and absolutely terrified. Fifteen and pregnant, Fern has just been shipped off to an institution called Wellwood House, where girls like her are forced to quietly have and then give away their babies. In 1970, this is pretty common, and so is the home’s rampant bullying and abuse. But when Fern and her Wellwood friends pick up a book on witchcraft, something clicks. The power they summon is real—real enough to help them free themselves, at least if it doesn’t destroy them first. Grady Hendrix doesn’t shy away from the horror of this occult tale, whether he’s exploring the terror of the supernatural, the body horror of childbirth, or the misery of living in a world where your body is not your own. He truly makes you feel Fern’s desperation and claustrophobia, so that when a hand finally reaches out to her, you can’t blame her for taking it—even if it belongs to the devil himself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Scares take a backseat to interpersonal drama in the fun latest from bestseller Hendrix (How to Sell a Haunted House). Neva is only 15 when she's dropped off at the Home for Unwed Mothers to weather the final months of her pregnancy among strangers. In 1970, there's nothing more shameful than being an unmarried, pregnant teenager, and the mistress and doctors of the home, who rename her Fern, treat her like trash. With only the tentative friendships of the other pregnant girls, Fern turns to a book from a traveling library for comfort: How to be a Groovy Witch. The book initially seems silly, but when Fern and her friends try a spell, the magic actually works, giving them a shred of power in their helpless situations. They initially dabble in only minor magic, like a spell to relieve their morning sickness—until one of their makeshift coven reveals the danger she and her unborn child are in. Now Fern must weigh protecting her friend with the dark price of witchcraft that might destroy her. The fantastical horror elements are uncharacteristically few and the pace occasionally drags, but Hendrix perfectly captures the girls' youth and loss of innocence, as well as the power of their friendships. This is sure to be another hit for Hendrix.
