Set in the rebellious year of 1970, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix delves into the heartbreaking and disturbing world of pregnant teenagers forced into "Homes" to hide their pregnancies and give up their babies. The protagonist, Fern, a 15-year-old girl, is sent to one such institution, where she befriends several other girls enduring the same fate. The book explores their desperate need for empowerment and freedom, which leads them to a quirky librarian who gives them a book, How to be a Groovy Witch—a gift that changes their lives in ways they never expected

This novel not only touches on themes of rebellion, autonomy, and sisterhood but also provides a chilling look at the harsh reality many young women faced in a time when abortion was illegal and women’s rights were actively fought for. As Fern and her friends seek a sense of agency, the introduction of witchcraft as a form of resistance adds a darkly magical and fantastical twist to the narrative, although its consequences aren’t always positive.

As someone who was still an infant in 1970, I found the portrayal of the era’s treatment of of pregnant teens incredibly eye-opening. I wasn’t fully aware of how deeply restrictive and stigmatizing that time was for young women, and the emotional impact of reading about these girls' struggles was jarring. It made me reflect on how far we've come—and how much work is still left to do. It also reinforces the fact that witchcraft, while often vilified and fantasized in such contexts, is also a symbol of reclaiming power and identity, despite the consequences in this story.

I particularly appreciated how the author skillfully captures the frustration and injustice of the time, while also adding in a dash of fantasy. The horror is not so much in the witchcraft and mayhem that follow but in the reality of how society once treated young women like Fern. This book certainly stirs emotions and invites the reader to reflect on gender, autonomy, and the complex ways society tries to control women's lives. The combination of Hendrix's dark humor and social commentary makes this a compelling read. It’s a gripping, thought-provoking, and at times unsettling tale that does an excellent job of immersing the reader in the atmosphere of the time while drawing attention to enduring social issues.

For anyone who enjoys historical fiction with a (small) twist of magical fantasy and social critique, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is definitely a book worth reading. It’s both a poignant reminder of the past and a call to action, urging readers to think critically about the treatment of women and their bodies.

One of the things I love about Grady Hendrix is that I never know what to expect. Each book is completely different from anything else he’s done before. This one didn’t grip me quite as tightly as others, but it was still powerful. Fern is pregnant and since she is only 15 and unmarried it’s a huge shame. Her parents arrange to send her to a home for girls like her in Florida while they present a lie to save her reputation. Fern isn’t her real name but in the garden of unwed girls she’s been given the alias Fern. But there is something strange in the woods behind the house and a book from the bookmobile sets Fern, Holly, Zinnia and Rose on an adventure they were not prepared for and will change them forever, even more than giving their babies up for adoption. I think part of why this one took me longer than normal is looking at the lack of rights of women in that time was harder right now while so many civil rights are being challenged in the country I’m in. Overall I gave it 4.5 stars rounded up because it is the kind of book that will stick with me for a very long time.

📚 E-ARC BOOK REVIEW 📚

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
By Grady Hendrix
Publication Date: January 14, 2025
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐✨
(Rounded Up To 4⭐)

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for this #gifted e-ARC of the book in exchange for my honest review!

📚MY REVIEW:

I'll be honest and say that when I requested this book from NetGalley, I was seeing it everywhere on Bookstagram and felt like I HAD to read it. I didn't focus on the synopsis or take a lot of time to see what it was about, as everyone was raving about it and my FOMO took over.

All that to say, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls was not a great book for me to read on a personal level. With my history of miscarrying my son at 18 weeks into my only pregnancy, I have a very strong apprehension about reading books that could be triggering to my personal trauma around that. And reading about a bunch of frightened teenage girls experiencing unexpected pregnancies, along with receiving terrible and unempathetic medical care during childbirth and their newborns? Yeah, that's pretty triggering for me.

** I actually finished this book before publication date, and it's just taken me several weeks to circle back and formulate a review. My apologies to Berkley and to the author for not sharing this review sooner. **

I genuinely enjoyed the character development in this read, and I thought Hendrix created multi-faceted characters with humor, wit, and real emotional depth. The interactions between the teenagers were written with such raw vulnerability, which was quite compelling. This was my first Hendrix read, and I really loved the writing style, so I'll definitely be picking up more of the backlist and diving in. I've learned that I'm not a huge fan of books about witchcraft, but I thought the inclusion of witchcraft here was well-done and didn't give off cultish vibes (which I really don't care for).

Overall, given my own personal visceral reactions to parts of the book's storylines, and the fact that witchcraft reads aren't really my jam, this wasn't my favorite read. But it's definitely a me thing. Because as I've said, I know this was a MASSIVE favorite for so many of my friends and it's been raved about again and again, with 5⭐ reviews everywhere.

#WitchcraftForWaywardGirls #GradyHendrix #Berkley #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #ARC #thrilleraddict #thrillerlover #booklover #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

An interesting look into society’s views on pregnant teens in the 50’s? This was the story of a group of young girls who have been sent to a home to deliver their children. So many dark topics, like how they were coerced into giving up the babies for the homes to profit from, to how they were treated, the lies they were told etc, makes this a heartbreaking read. The paranormal elements were very well done. Very creepy, slowly building to an intense conclusion with a satisfying ending. Very much enjoyed this.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls was nothing like I expected but everything I needed.
Set in the 1970s, we follow Neva Craven, a pregnant teenager, whose parents are shipping her off to a home for wayward girls in Florida. There, she becomes Fern and meets other florally named friends who are in the same situation. Rose, Zinnia, and Holly discover witchcraft as an alternative to their lack of autonomy in their pregnancy and lives. Unfortunately, everything has a price and the girls find that the price is too high.
The horror of these girls experiences is their womanhood (or girlhood rather) and the pain and suffering experienced due to their gender daily. I mourn an alternate reality where the girls find solace in the witchery instead of that being one of the villain narratives in the story.
Also the epilogue??? Killed me!
I think this book was amazing. If you like horror but need social commentary for it to be a highly rated experience, definitely pick this book up.
4.5/5 stars

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, Grady Hendrix has created a stunning and powerful narrative. Between the visceral quality of the words chosen and the situation the girls are in, the novel is about true magic, the power to bring life.
From the very first, when you meet Fern, you feel her presence on the page. But really what reinforces the difficulties the girls face is when we hear Holly’s story, one of abuse. This is when the girls come together to try and save her if not themselves. But we see how knowledge is powerful and how dangerous one small book can be in the right hands. This is the power of the female and of motherhood written with reverence. It is also how much power and magic there is in the world. I absolutely love that magic is neither good or bad but that the witch's magic comes with a price. I also appreciated that wisdom and knowledge is its own kind of magic, when Hagar, a kitchen cook, helps the girls.
If you like stunning and powerful novels that empathize with the magic of women, of motherhood, and of birth, this novel is for you. There is darkness but there is also brightness and love. There is a beautiful ending that highlights the bond between mother and child. There is sisterhood and friendship. And all those powerful bonds are what make this book such a powerful read.

Grady Hendrix can do no wrong when it comes to the books that he writes. A superb addition to his wonderful and bone-chilling catalog of books.

While the premise was nice, the writing was... not what I expected. I wanted more from the characters because I felt that what was on the front cover and the front flap was not what we were given.

Reviewed for SFX magazine, so I won't repeat my views here - you'll have to track down the issue to find out my exact thoughts!

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix is a simmering slowburn showcase of the horrors of a horrid time mixed with the clever paranormal thanks to one of the pillars of the horror genre.

This was a little slower than I would’ve liked, but I appreciated that this shown a light on the horrors that these young women faced. I liked the mix of horror with paranormal.

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Berkley Publishing for the gifted copy, which I voluntarily read & reviewed:

I'm apparently the only person in the world who thought this book was pretty eye-roll inducing, but yeah, it was not for me. Like I see what he was doing, and I like what he was doing, but I wish he did it better. The characterizations all felt off to me, and I cared about absolutely zero of the characters. And in theory, this book has all the elements of things I liked! It was very "I think I've seen this film before" (although I didn't mind the ending), but I've seen better versions of this film, if that makes sense.

So! 2 stars on goodreads, it was just ok for me.

This book was really hard to put down and is so different than any of the other Hendrix books that I've read. If you removed the witchy, paranormal element, you would have a serious historical fiction novel based on real events and it would still be amazing. I think that's where the book is the strongest. It's the late 60's and there's a group of girls who live in a home for unwed, expectant teenage mothers. They are left there by their families until their babies are born with the expectation that their babies will be given up for adoption and they will then return home, excuses being made for their absence. Hendrix researched these homes quite extensively and the heartbreak and compassion you will feel for these characters is overwhelming.

The witchcraft part of the story is an interesting way to allow these girls a way to fight back against an oppressive system. Of course, in the beginning the things they ask for are relatively harmless. As time goes by however, the things they want and need become more serious in nature and a price must be paid. There are some truly frightening scenes involving witchcraft, but interestingly enough, much of the reality facing the girls is just as frightening, if not more so.

There were a few things that I would have preferred to have seen play out differently with the witchcraft part of the book, and that's why I gave it a 4.5 vs. a complete 5.

There's not a whole lot of gore in this book so if you are squeamish you shouldn't be too worried. The childbirth scenes in the book are extremely realistic and detailed and that might possibly be a bit much for some. Having had two kids of my own, I was impressed by the accuracy.

At it's heart though this is a book about female bonds. bonds made during one of the worst times of their lives. It's about finding a way to fight a system they have no power over. It's about hope and risk. I definitely recommend it.

This book was a ride, and packed a lot in. The story was a heavy, bleak tale of pregnant teens in a suffocating, oppressive system. Fern, Rose, and Zinnia felt so real, and I was rooting for them even when the story dragged. Which I have to say a little over the first half of the book did drag but I wanted to keep going. The witchcraft moments—when they finally appeared—were eerie and compelling, and the commentary on power dynamics? The ending tried to pull everything together, It celebrates their power but also highlights their darker sides, leaving room for interpretation. Which is life. I think some students will like this, but it will take dedicated ones to stick with it. I did like it and it wasn't awful, just not what I was expecting, and I have to say the second half of the book I really liked, and I did like the wrap up at the end. I think this is a book for a bit more mature reader who is willing to put in the time.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc to preview.

I'm already a fan of Hendrix and love watching him grow as a writer. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is the culmination of all his previous works. This one take all the fun, zaniness, clever setups, interesting characters and takes it to another level with tackling bigger topics, deeper characters, a different time period, and just the epic=ness of this big book.
I saw another reviewer mention his braveness in taking on the voices of young unwed mothers in the '70s. And from my perch as a cis, white, gay man, he succeeds without looking down on his characters, painting them in broad strokes, or going with the easy character choices.
The worldbuilding, as always, is spectacular. And even though we're introduced to a LOT of young girls, the main ones are fleshed out quite nicely.
And unless you think there's not horror, there were several sections that had me on the edge of my seat (once in the quiet dark of night in the Home and another in an intense storm).
I highly recommend this and can't wait to see what Hendrix does next!

I wasn't sure where this book was going for a bit, like the first 5 chapters, and then I was invested in Fern, Holly, Rose and Zinnia,

This book was a huge dissapointment! I enjoyed Hendrix previous books and this one has all elements that would normally enjoy in a book but somehow it doesn't work. It reads like a YA book that is way too long. I like it when horror authors go deeper in terms of the themes that underlie the main storyline, like in this case in which he takes the universal trope of abuse of power and I think that his take is really interesting (the knocked up girls who end in a boarding house, run by a woman with iron fist and how the girls turn to a book of witchcraft, provided by a traveling bookseller, to try to rebel against the system that oppresses them with the aim of taking away their babies once they are born) I think that is a great social commentary, especially of the puritan hypocritical society of the 70's in the south. But I wanted more witchcraft and less whinning girls; more spells and less onomatopoeia (what is it with all the crash, boom, bangs that fill these pages?). More witches and less teenage drama.

Thank you to PRH Audio for the ALC to review.

This book of Grady’s was a different than his prior books in that the horror in this story was based on history. Wayward girls being hidden away at “homes” while pregnant out of wedlock and adding the element of witchcraft was great, and I thought very well done. While the pacing was slow a bit at times, I could not stop listening and finished in a couple of days. The audio had several narrators which I enjoyed, minus the chanting, which I could have done without as that narrator was a bit extreme for those parts. Otherwise, this was a powerful read that I definitely recommend.

Grady Hendrix continues his streak of thoughtful, haunting tales of both the human and paranormal with this, arguably his strongest book. Set in the 1970s, it follows a group of pregnant teens who are sent to a reformatory house and must come to terms with their condition, both within their isolated environment and broader society at large. When they stumble upon a book of witchcraft and test it out, things begin to go awry.

Hendrix delivers on the emotional and the narrative front. The story is difficult to predict, yet each new landmark in the story feels as if it were inevitable. Excellently plotted and told with a remarkable degree of compassion and insight, Hendrix captures both the period setting and the inner landscape of his characters with remarkable poignancy. The more frightening elements of the book are a bit more subdued when compared to his previous work (and nearly all confined to the back half of the book), but once they arrive it's riveting and propulsive reading.

A young girl sent away to a home for young girls for getting pregnant finds herself searching for anything to help her and her new friends from those that wish to take everything from them.

This was my first Grady Hendrix. I’m sad to say I was a little underwhelmed. After being hyped up so much I think I misunderstood his type of horror. However all that aside, I found this to be a compelling and easy read, even if the horror was tame.

Focusing mostly on social and birth horror, there were some other elements of other horrors that had brief moments that I really enjoyed! The only thing that threw me off was how this is a very intimate female POV story from the point of view of a male author. It was odd, but aside from that the story felt important to share at a time where choice and control over women’s bodies is being stripped and controlled even more.

Overall I am looking forward to reading another Hendrix and hopefully getting some more horror that spooks me in my reading future.

Thank you to @berkleypub for the arc in exchange of my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley, Berkley, and Grady Hendrix for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I really enjoyed this one and it’s my favorite Hendrix I’ve read so far. It’s the perfect combination of horror and history while also showcasing the power of female friendships and doing what’s needed to survive.

This book follows fifteen-year old Fern as she arrives at Wellwood House in 1970. It’s a house for unwed mothers and there are many different types of girls there. She becomes close friends with Rose, Zinnia, and Holly, and they rely on each other to get through the days.

One day, they meet a librarian who gives Fern a book about witchcraft, and their lives change drastically. They realize what power they hold and how they can help, and hurt, others. They don’t realize the price that must be paid though until it’s too late…

I’m sad to only be giving this book four stars because the last 75% deserves five stars. The first quarter is what brings it down, as I found it really boring and confusing. I had trouble figuring out all the characters and I actually DNF’d it for a few months.

I’m so glad I picked it back up though because it’s an amazing book once it finds it's footing. There are some truly gruesome scenes that show what women have been through, and continue to go through, but also a theme of resilience and solidarity. Hendrix creates the setting beautifully and I could imagine myself in the home with the girls.

If you dislike body horror, I would suggest maybe skipping this one, but it’s a wonderful story and will be sticking with me for a long time.