7th Feb
In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix, the author explores witchcraft and the horrors young women faced when they got in the family way 70s and end up spending time away from their loved ones at the Wayward Girls home. The horror elements were as much about what happened to these young girls as it was the witch they encounter.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
by Grady Hendrix
Narrator: Leslie Howard, Hillary Huber, Sara Morsey
Length: 16 hours and 19 minutes
Genres: Historical Fiction, Horror, Suspense Thriller
Source: Publisher
Purchase*: Amazon | Audible *affiliate
Rating: 
Narration: 5 cups Speed: 1.5x
There’s power in a book…
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.
Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.
In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (NPR).
Grady Hendrix blends elements of witchcraft with stark realism in his book, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, where the true terror is grounded in reality.
The Wayward Home housed pregnant teenagers whose families had sent them away in the 1970s. Neighbors and family were told their daughters were helping Aunt Helen who just had twins or grandma who broke her arm. What happens to them and their babies is the true horror of this story despite the dark elements of witchcraft that will have you checking the locks on your doors.
Hendrix tapped into his feminine side and nailed the aspects of pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Feeling abandoned by the fathers and their families, the girls are shamed for their promiscuous behavior. We learn the different girls’ stories as friendships are formed. While some of their stories are familiar, others are dark and worrisome. A friend ten years my senior was sent away as a young teen. To this day, she struggles with what occurred. Her parents forced her to give the child up. She never even held her baby. Hendrix made those emotions, experiences and fears real.
The girls have no control over their lives or that of their child. It is no wonder that they sought solutions. Those solutions came in a book that offers spells and from there they meet a witch and her coven. The supernatural elements were perfectly creeptastic, from bargains to dark entities trying to enter the home. Religion, society bias, rape, women’s rights and other issues made this story feel relevant to the current political climate. Hendrix allows the listener to connect and identify with the girls as each of their circumstances was unique.
Leslie Howard, Hillary Huber, and Sara Morsey captured these young women, the staff and darker elements perfectly. I highly recommend listening as it added to the already addictive tale. As always I began listening at 1.0x and moved the speed up until the speech sounded natural to me. The narrators worked well together and the production quality was well done.
Fans of historical fiction, suspense and witchcraft will want to grab Witchcraft for Wayward Girls. This was a memorable supernatural thriller. I cannot wait to see what he brings us next.
About Grady Hendrix
Grady Hendrix is the author of the novels Horrorstör, about a haunted IKEA, and My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which is like Beaches meets The Exorcist, only it’s set in the Eighties. He’s also the author of We Sold Our Souls, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and Final Girl Support Group. He’s also the jerk behind the Stoker award-winning Paperbacks from Hell, a history of the 70’s and 80’s horror paperback boom, which contains more information about Nazi leprechauns, killer babies, and evil cats than you probably need. And he’s the screenwriter behind Mohawk, which is probably the only horror movie about the War of 1812 and Satanic Panic.
About Hillary Huber
Hillary Huber is a multiple Audie Award finalist, an AudioFile Earphones Award winner, and an AudioFile Best Voice. She has recorded over 550 titles, spanning many genres. A huge fan of audiobooks, when she’s not narrating one, she’s listening to one!
About Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard is a talented audiobook narrator with a background in intensive yoga study, metaphysics, and fiber arts who lives on a small farm sanctuary where she’s raised six homeschooled children. She performs nonfiction, YA, sci-fi, and literary fiction and has trained with notable coaches like Sean Pratt and Paul Allen Ruben. She brings creativity, empathy, and a lifelong love of performance to her work.
About Sara Morsey
Sara Morsey is an eclectic performance artist with a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Louisville. She has worked in regional theatres across the country as a long-time associate artist with the Hippodrome Theatre in Gainesville, Florida, and has enjoyed many successful runs of various plays at the Florida Repertory Theatre where she is a member of the acting ensemble. Sara also lays claim to several independent film credits and audiobook narrations.
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About Kimberly
Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat.
