"You see, we'd been taught that the devil was the worst thing in the world, but we were too young to understand that there were worse things than the devil. We were too young to understand that their job was to convince us that the most natural thing in the world was evil, and the most evil thing in the world was natural."

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls works much better as a piece of historical fiction than it does a true paranormal novel. Yes, once the latter half of the book rolls around, the witches become a lot more prevalent in the story, but, this is much more about the horrors of these care homes, and the evils that were thrust upon the girls forced to board there. This book is a brutally challenging read, and contains what are possibly the most horrific, vivid, sickening and grotesque depictions of cruelty and childbirth in a book, like, ever. With this novel, Hendrix has managed to navigate a heart-breaking topic with elegance and beauty, upon reading the first few pages, it becomes clear that this is a subject very dear to his heart. Many might argue that Hendrix is not the right type of author to pen a story such as this, but, he's proven, without a doubt, that he is.

This book contains such a huge cast of characters, each of them so fully fleshed out and full of life, there's a real vibrancy to every single one of them. Despite this not being an actual horror novel, it's still a remarkably chilling read, and does manage to contain some scenes that are creepy as all hell. It does, however, read so, so very different from any other novel by Hendrix - this isn't to say that it's any less brilliant than his other works, it's just, viscerally different. It still does contain his signature easy to read flow and highly addictive reading, which makes this almost 500-page book an absolute breeze to fly through. Witchcraft for Wayward girls is horrendously gut-wrenching, there's hardly an ounce of happiness sprinkled between these pages.

 

This is one dark, intense, and fucking harrowing novel. While it certainly won't have you spending sleepless nights wondering what every little noise was, it will succeed in making you feel absolutely furious, and that's truly, what I seek when I read, I want to feel something. It's a complete emotional rollercoaster, violent and horrific, yet in its own way, oddly charming, too. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls tells an extremely important story, and depicts a very horrible but very real part of American history. It's important not to think of this as an out-and-out horror story, you'll only end up disappointed, this is historical fiction at it's most savage, it's an untamed and deeply sad novel, one that feels vital to experience.

"Something noticed them. Something enormous. Something vast. Something that would take thousands of years to turn its three faces. Fern danced closer to it, higher and higher, and it began to open one leviathan eye and she knew that even being seen by it would destroy her and she welcomed her own destruction."