Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

By: Grady Hendrix

Narrated by: Leslie Howard, Hillary Huber, Sara Morsey

"Superb ... a perfect horror for our imperfect age.”–The New York Times

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER

There’s power in a book…

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to 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 plans to 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).

©2024 Grady Hendrix (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Hendrix’s genius as a horror writer is his ability to develop complex, human-scale emotional arcs...Never before has one of his books so aptly met the moment…at turns frightening, anxiety-producing, infuriating, beautiful and sad.”– The New York Times

“Fantastic … Hendrix is a wizard at mixing together tropes of terror in thought-provoking ways.”–Minnesota Star Tribune

"There's spells, there's witches, and then there's the magic Grady Hendrix conjures up in this amazing novel."–Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of I Was a Teenage Slasher

Good Grady, bad performance (sorry to the voice actor)

I really wanted to love all of the book, it kinda bums me out to have to say that I liked the story but the performance during births and rituals was so distracting and really took me out of the story. The wailing was just too much, maybe that was the point - but it was really unpleasant to listen to. I think I’ll but the physical copy and read myself.

Unexpectedly Powerful

I went into this thinking that it would be an academia book about girls discovering witch craft. I had no idea the power that this book would speak of. Heart wrenching, attention grabbing, and so beautifully narrated.

Grady Hendrix!

Sir! You have no right to play with my emotions like this! This book is so timely, and for me it just hit a nerve. I fell in love with these girls. The story is brutal, and beautiful, and thought provoking. Honestly, this is the best book I've read (or listened to) for a very long time. I don't know if you read these reviews, but if you do, thank you for this gift of a story.

Excellent!!!!!

Amazing simply amazing. Grady Hendrix never disappoints. The story is something that needs to be heard especially now. It is horror in its true form.

Amazing

Grady Hendrix did it again! I’m so happy I read this and so sad that it’s over!

Awesome!

I love how Grady Hendrix can write from the female perspective, and it’s absolutely believable!!! Another great read!

Good Read

My first Grady Hendrix novel and I did enjoy it. The character development was good and I enjoyed the storyline.

A Different Kind of Horror

This is not at all what I was expecting. But as a woman, this is 100% horror. Excellent writing and unbeatable narration. To all my fellow women, you are heard.

Great storyline and lovable characters

Easily one of the better books I’ve listened to in awhile. I caught myself holding my breath a couple times when I didn’t see a twist coming. Unpredictable storyline and eye opening perspective of life before my time.

Read don’t listen to it IMO

It was okay. I wished I had read it instead of listening to it though. There was a lot of noises the narrator had to do and it just was weird or felt flat to me. I feel like narrating this book in general was probably kind of hard. I think it probably ruined parts of the book for me. Overall book could have been shorter. It sort of went on and on at times repeating the same thing in another way. I liked the overall story though but just could have cut out a lot of filler stuff. Again, I would read not listen and maybe would have liked it better.