I have loved every book written so far by Grady Hendrix. I love how perfectly he captures his southern settings (no shocker, considering he grew up here) and I’m consistently impressed by how well he writes women. His protagonists are usually southern women, and none of the creepy, leering, obsessed-with-her-looks kind of characterization here. Did he grow up with five sisters or something? Because he is SPOT ON, every time. These characters feel like women I know, women I grew up with.

This is even more impressive in Witchcraft for Wayward Girls. It’s 1970, and teenage girls who’re unwed and pregnant are sent by their ashamed families to group homes far away, to bear their children in secret before coming home to pretend nothing ever happened. (Thanks, complete lack of sex education!) Fern is one such unlucky girl, but she finds far more that summer at Wellwood House than she expected. She comes into possession of a book of witchcraft, and in a place where every hour of their day is tightly controlled, where every bite of food is strictly watched, the girls jump at the chance to claw back some semblance of control. But power is never free.

This feels like a different kind of horror than we usually get from Hendrix. It’s dark and occult, but I feel like the horror is more psychological and emotional. (Although there’s an element of physical terror/body horror that goes along with pregnancy, especially for an unprepared teenager, and how did a man capture that fear, from a woman's perspective, so well?!! Well done!!) This book is about betrayal, power, isolation, loss and grief, love, and found family. It was powerful, the ending was so perfect, and it’s a fantastic witchy horror.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!