BelEdit Book Reviews
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls plunges the reader into the lives of teenage girls, in 1970, living in a home for unmarried mothers while waiting for their babies to be born. It’s a horror novel that begs the question: is the ‘horror’ the setting or the supernatural events that take place? For many readers, the horror will lie in this glimpse into the reality of the fundamentally misogynist, adoption-oriented maternity homes that so many thousands of women were forced to endure thoughout the late 19th and most of the 20th century.*
The girls in Witchcraft for Wayward Girls have been essentially banished by their parents to an isolated maternity home in Florida, Wellwood House, to continue their pregnancy in secret then give up their babies for adoption before returning home to continue their lives and [ha!] forget any of it ever happened.
“We were girls. That’s what they called us in their articles and their speeches and their files: bad girls, neurotic girls, needy girls, wayward girls, selfish girls, girls with Electra complexes, girls trying to fill a void, girls who needed attention, girls with pasts, girls from broken homes, girls who needed discipline, girls desperate to fit in, girls in trouble, girls who couldn’t say no.
For girls like us, down there at the Home, the devil turned out to be our only friend.”– Witchcraft for Wayward Girls – Grady Hendrix
The main character in Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is Neva Craven, a 15-year-old girl from Alabama. When she arrives at Wellwood House to have her baby, she finds herself amidst a group of girls who got pregnant through ignorance, childish thoughtlessness or abuse. These girls are CHILDREN, the eldest 18, the youngest just turned 14. They are given a semblance of choice regarding whether or not their baby will be adopted, but in practice they have no choice: all their babies will be taken from them and adopted. The girls are entirely powerless, with other people making every decision for them, denying them agency in the most important thing that has ever happened to them. They are children, being treated like children, while being reviled for being pregnant — as if their pregnancy had been by choice. As if it had been an informed choice, taken by an adult who had selfishly or wilfully opted to do the ‘wrong’ thing.
Power is a central theme in this novel. For example, from the first day in the home, the girls are even denied the power of identity: each girl is given a pseudonym to be used throughout their stay, and forbidden from revealing to the other girls any true information about their name, family, origin or personal story. At hospital, they will be registered as Jane Doe. The adoption papers will be signed by Jane Doe.
Yes, it’s ostensibly a ‘horror’ novel involving witchcraft. But the horror lies in the way these girls were treated. The horror is their fear, confusion, loneliness, abandonment and unspeakable pain. The horror is a 14-year-old child who would be sent back to the man who abused her. All of this horror seared my soul. I could not stop crying as I read it.
As Neva (now called Fern) begins to dabble in witchcraft with her friends Rose, Holly and Zinnia, the girls gain a modicum of agency and independence. But just as their childish ignorance and innocence landed them in the maternity home, so their crude attempt to harness the power of witchcraft also lands them in trouble, victims of powers far beyond their control.
This review contains too many near-spoilers already so I’ll refrain from more spoilers about the witchcraft element. Suffice to say there’s mayhem aplenty!
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is an absorbing, beautifully written novel that will move many readers to tears. The characters are well rounded and unique individuals, each with a distinctive voice and personality. It completely broke my heart, not by playing me with saccharine scenes but by rousing my empathy, anger and pity.
It breaks my heart even further, and fills me with fear and overwhelming rage, knowing that the latest repressive political powers (in the US, but spreading insidiously) will no doubt force more girls and women into similar circumstances over the coming years.
My thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for giving me a free copy of this book. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.
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