Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a historical horror book about a group of unwed pregnant mothers living in Wellwood House, a maternity home in Florida. The girls spend their days getting poked and prodded by the staff doctor, doing chores to help cover room and board, and listening to lectures about how bad their lives will be if they choose to keep their babies instead of giving them up for adoption. Every two weeks, the library cart comes around, and the librarian has a book that will change the girls’ lives forever as they read about how to become a groovy witch.

This book is a snapshot of what life was like for unwed pregnant teens in the 70s, whose options for reproductive agency were limited or nonexistent, and who were coerced into giving up their babies to placate their families, preserve their reputations, and feed the growing adoption industry. It exists in conversation with the present, as people face state-sponsored, systemic, and interpersonal reproductive coercion. So, it’s extremely relevant.

I enjoyed Hendrix’s take on witches and witchcraft. They felt real and powerful and dangerous! But without perpetuating the sorts of harmful gender myths and stereotypes that haunt women, queer, and trans people through history and spur literal witch hunts.

Speaking of women, as with his previous novels, Grady Hendrix continues to write female characters who are strong but not perfect, with nuance that mirrors their complex social contexts and rich inner lives.

More than anything, though, this book was fun! It was a delight to read, intriguing and surprising and harsh and sweet all at once. I recommend it without reservation!

Well… one reservation. Please review the content warnings. 

Child sexual abuse and resulting pregnancy is a core component of the plot. This includes the threat of sexual abuse of an infant. While it doesn’t happen on the page, it is a prominent theme that is mentioned frequently throughout the book. That said, I think it’s handled with sensitivity and care. And importantly, I don’t think it’s just a plot device to make the story more “interesting” at the expense of real victim/survivors. I think Hendrix is really asking readers to look at it, think about it, and consider its prevalence, its impact, and the extreme difficulty victims and survivors face when trying to escape it.