Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

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What to expect

‘Chillingly addictive’ – Cosmopolitan

AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘I did an evil thing to be put in here, and I’m going to have to do an evil thing to get out.’

In this twisted, unforgettable horror, a group of young girls turn to a dark, ancient magic. From Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group.

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood House 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.

And where every moment of their waking day is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. There, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament.

There's Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to keep her baby and escape to a commune. Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. And Holly, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

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.

‘A perfect horror for our imperfect age’ – The New York Times


READERS LOVE WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS . . .

‘Gave me chills’

‘Tackles female rage brilliantly’

‘Disturbing but brilliant’

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls was a No. 5 Sunday Times bestseller the w/e 18th January.

Critics Review

A chillingly addictive Southern Gothic tale
Cosmopolitan
This visceral tale of oppression, resistance and consequences provides chilly horrors
Daily Mail
Superb . . . Hendrix’s genius as a horror writer is his ability to develop complex, human-scale emotional arcs . . . At turns frightening, anxiety-producing, infuriating, beautiful and sad, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a perfect horror for our imperfect age
The New York Times
An engrossing, compelling read
The Guardian
This book is so twisted and smart . . . As soon as I finished, I wanted to start all over again
Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street and Nowhere Burning
A devilishly good time
People Magazine
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
A morally complex and genuinely haunting and moving tale. I couldn't put it down once I started
Paul Tremblay, bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World
Another nail-biter not to be missed!
Tananarive Due, author of The Reformatory
This is Satan's School for Girls or The Initiation of Sarah . . . horror, social comment and wicked black humour
Kim Newman, author of Anno Dracula
Terrifying, darkly funny, moving, immersive, and deeply relevant – a page-turner that will keep you up until one in the morning
Simone St. James, New York Times bestselling author of Murder Road
Grady Hendrix does it again, only better . . . Enchanting and entertaining
Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor
Full of hexes and heart, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is Hendrix's best novel yet!
Ronald Malfi, bestselling author of Come with Me
Captivating . . . A phenomenal read for witches everywhere!
Carissa Orlando, author of The September House
Portentous and disquieting, it's a book that'll linger like a scar
Cassandra Khaw, author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth and The Salt Grows Heavy
Stunning, full of dread and heartache and unforgettable characters. It’s impossible to read this book and not be touched by it. What a triumph!
Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Last Resort and Road of Bones
As pacey as it is insightful, and an absolute page-turner into the bargain. I devoured it
Alison Littlewood, author of The Hidden People
Raw, fearless and powerful. I screamed, I sobbed, I devoured every word
Lindy Ryan, author of Bless Your Heart and Cold Snap
A haunted, heartbreaking masterpiece, filled with magic and monsters - human and otherwise. Hendrix has written an unmissable instant horror classic
Christina Henry, author of The House that Horror Built and Alice
A powerful novel filled with rich, complex characters, echoing with dread and hope, and driven by righteous rage. At times I found myself shaking with fury, at other times . . . yes, Grady made me cry again. Beautiful and brilliant
Tim Lebbon, author of Among the Living
An enormously entertaining novel, populated with characters you love
Locus
This book blew me away, his ability to infuse his work with humour and heart is unmatched
Scream Magazine
A must-read for fans of gothic horror and feminist storytelling
Voice Magazine

User Reviews

Book 4.0
Narration 4.5
4.0
5.0
The story was gripping, quite gory at times, the main characters go through a lot but we get to enjoy the comeuppance. The narrator did an excellent job giving most of the characters distinctive voices, and really gave her all in the childbirth and witchcraft scenes!
turtleghost 13/09/2025
4.0
4.0
This is the first audiobook I have listened to since I was a child. It was a difficult listen.

Something about reading from a page provides distance from the subject. But listening to actors give voice to Fern and Holly and Zinnia and Rose's rage and anguish was heartbreaking and cringe-inducing and enraging. No distance could be maintained between myself and the injustice that happened to thousands of women in the USA, and in Canada, Ireland, and my native UK. So while it was a difficult read, it was an important one for me to complete. And I came close to putting it down several times! I finished it two months after my book club sat down to read it, but I knew I had to finish no matter how long it took.

It isn't a perfect book, however. I felt like the witchcraft element was incomplete, almost half-baked. I read that witchcraft was not present in the novel until the 3rd draft, and I think you can tell. The fantasy lover in me felt it was baffling that these girls didn't want to become witches and strike down the patriarchy with their awesome magic. I do recognise however, that it is a lot easier to want something problematic in fantasy (in the literal dreaming-of-something sense) than in real life, and Grady Hendrix is correct in showing the horror of Mrs Parceau's coven. But a little part of me will always wish that this book leant in hard into the magic!
artemis 04/05/2025

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