WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS - Grady Hendrix

Wow. This was incredible!

I would count Grady Hendrix as one of my favorite authors, based, now, on the last six fiction novels of his I've read. His books are dark and quirky, a fantastic blend of horror and coming of age.

I thought that this book was the least dark and horrific (in the supernatural sense) and not nearly as gore-filled. Oh ... there's plenty of blood and gore - there are teens having babies, after all. But while it seems lighter on the gore, it's got a powerful message that really is as dark and sinister as the witches.

It is 1970 and young girls who are unwed but 'in a family way' are an embarrassment to their families and subsequently shipped off to homes for 'loose girls' and 'wayward girls.' One such home is the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida where the no-nonsense matron runs a tight ship and makes the girls earn their stay by doing chores before giving birth. The girls are also 'encouraged' to sign the necessary forms to give their unborn children up for adoption when born.

The girls in the home are all teens - 14 to 17 - and they are not allowed to use their real names or share any personal information about themselves with each other, and each is assigned a name upon arrival. Our narrator is a fifteen-year-old Fern, whose father drops her off and can't get away fast enough.

Fern doesn't take well to the disinterested adults around her who constantly let the girls know that they, the adults, know what's best for the unwed mothers. Her only oasis is the appearance of the bookmobile. Even this, though, becomes just dull routine when Fern has read everything the bookmobile has and there never seems to be anything new. But when the librarian hands Fern an old book of witchcraft, life for the girls in Wellwood Home is about to change.

The girls rally around Holly - just barely 14, Holly never talks and no one seems to know who the father of her baby is. But Fern figures it out when a guest comes to check on Fern and the baby he's going to adopt. Fern convinces the other girls that they need to work together and help Holly.

But witchcraft is a messy business and it also requires a price.

Hendrix's writing style is incredibly smooth. It is easy to fall into a Hendrix novel and just flow along with the book because of the narrative. He takes a few risks - writing about pregnant teens, from a pregnant teen perspective is not the least of those risks. 

This book really highlights the misogynistic mores of the 70's. It would be nice if we could say that things have changed, but have they? I think Hendrix asks us to take a hard look at where we've come from and whether or not we've improved. Without being political, Hendrix is throwing our political climate in our face.

On one hand I want to say that it takes a long time for the 'horror' to show up in this book, but on the other hand, the horror starts right away with the treatment of the teen girls. Perhaps it's safer to say that the supernatural horror doesn't show up until later in the book.

I did not anticipate the ending. And I like that.  I like being surprised when I'm enjoying a book, and I definitely enjoyed this.

I wasn't quite sure I liked that this was set in 1970, but of course it's easier to make a comment on current society if it's being shown by some other means (just as Star Trek made comments about the Vietnam War and Race relations without actually going to Earth).  

I've read some really good books lately, but this is outstanding.

Looking for a good book? If you like horror or dark fantasy, if you like reading a well-written story, if you like when someone pokes at political and social issues, you really need to read Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgally, in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars

* * * * * *

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

author: Grady Hendrix

publisher: Berkley

ISBN: 9780593548981

hardcover, 496 pages

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