Witchcraft for Wayward Girls: Review, characters, triggers + FAQ
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix synopsis/summary:
‘I did an evil thing to be put in here, and I’m going to have to do an evil thing to get out.’
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.
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. 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.
Every moment of their waking day 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.
Get Witchcraft for Wayward Girls here.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls characters.
Set in 1970, fifteen-year-old Neva Craven finds herself on a journey she never imagined. Pregnant and unwed, she's whisked away from her small town, her father's shame tucked neatly in her suitcase alongside her few belongings. Her destination: Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, a home for "wayward" girls, where she'll become just another face in a sea of secrets.
Here is the full list of characters in Witchcraft for Wayward Girls:
Neva Craven, aka, “Fern”
Holly
Zinnia
Hagar Sunday
Miriam Sunday
Rose
Myrtle
Jasmine
Briony
Iris
Flora
Daisy
Ginger
Laurel
Willow
Violet
Hazel
Clementine, aka, “Clem”
Petunia
Tansy
Miss Wellwood
Nurse Kent
Miss Parcae
Decima
Dolores
Joy
Mags
Little Robin
Pagan
Periwinkle
Celestia
Star
Journey
Molly
Polly
Decima
Darius
Guy
Reverend Jerry
Dr. Vincent
Mrs. Deckle
Diane/Miss Keller
Mr. Craven
Duncan
Ariel
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls book review.
My rating: ★★★★★
It’s a gutsy move for a privileged male author to dive headfirst into a story about unwed teen pregnancies and the systemic oppression of women, a topic as charged as it is deeply gendered. But Hendrix handles Witchcraft for Wayward Girls with a surprising allyship that feels genuine, even if you side-eye him going in.
Firstly, let’s get one thing straight: this book doesn’t just scare you with witchcraft, gore and graphic body horror—TW: Graphic pregnancy, labour and childbirth scenes (I am SO relieved and delighted to be childfree!)—it infuriates.
Depicting unwed teen mothers being shipped off to “homes,” stripped of their rights and autonomy, and treated like criminals by creepy doctors and Nurse Ratched types is hard to stomach and not just in a historical sense. It feels even heavier when you realise these institutions weren’t just relics of a backward past. Their echoes are loud and clear in today’s world, from debates about bodily autonomy to the overturning of Roe vs. Wade to the underlying causes of the #MeToo movement, plus the ongoing intersectionality in current wars and crimes against humanity, not to mention homelessness and abuse. Same song, different decade.
Hendrix writing this as a dude is risky, sure. But he gets it. He centres the trauma, the injustice, and the rage of women throughout history and no doubt, of today. Because it is set in 1970 in a pre-Roe vs. Wade era, Hendrix bypasses the pro-choice vs. pro-life minefield and instead forces us to face the raw, unfiltered horror of denying women agency. He’s not preachy about it, so don’t worry, if that is a concern of yours.
This book won’t be for everyone. It’s going to ruffle feathers, trigger a few incels and misogynists, and will probably land on some banned-book lists, faster than you can say The Handmaid’s Tale/The Color Purple (and yes, the irony that it’s a privileged male). But hey, that’s the kind of résumé you want as an author tackling these topics.
Additionally, I've seen a few criticisms that there isn't enough witchcraft in this book and I agree. It does read more like historical fiction with visceral pregnancy & birth-related body horror elements and splashes of witchcraft, so adjust your expectations if you're looking for tonnes of supernatural horror right from the get-go. Because the real horror isn’t otherworldly. It’s what we’ve permitted and continue to permit to happen in plain sight.
Be that as it may, this story is also a reckoning. Beneath the witchy vibes lies a defiant reminder: women have always been powerful, even when systems tried to dismiss, control or snuff them out. Hendrix doesn’t just ask us to rage, he reminds us to rise.
Oh, and if you wanted a plot summary, read the blurb. Or better yet... the book. A more fleshed-out and nuanced character arc for Hagar and Miriam could’ve earned this a full five stars. However, 4.5 stars, happy to round up.
Thank you so much to NetGalley & Pan Macmillan | Tor Nightfire for the arc in exchange for an honest review—this was one of my most anticipated for 2025 and it delivered!
View my Witchcraft for Wayward Girls book review on GoodReads here!
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix book FAQs.
SPOILER ALERT:
Some answers may spoil Witchcraft for Wayward Girls if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution.
What are the content & trigger warnings for Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix?
Blood and gore
Bigotry, racism
Child sexual abuse and grooming (off-page)
Medical content
Miscarriage
Pregnancy
Graphic childbirth scenes
Grief
Body horror
Pedophilia
Rape (Off-page)
Cancer
Vomit
Misogyny, sexism
Gaslighting
Animal cruelty
Were maternity homes, or homes for unwed mothers a real thing in the 1970s?
Yes, they were. Before abortion was legalized under Roe v. Wade (and subsequently overturned), homes for unmarried pregnant girls and women were a harsh reality. In the 20 years leading up to legalization, nearly 1.5 million unwed mothers in the U.S. were coerced into giving birth and then shamed into surrendering their babies for adoption. By the 1960s, more than 200 of these homes were operating across 44 states, according to Time magazine.
And yes, it happened in Australia too. The so-called “family values” of the era blamed daughters for being “morally corrupt,” while the baby daddies got to vanish faster than your phone battery on a long day. To make matters worse, 1950s medical professionals—armed with outdated science and plenty of judgment—decided that unwed mothers were “psychologically unfit” to raise their children.
This history hit close to home for Grady Hendrix, who discovered that two of his relatives were “sent away” as teenagers. Their pregnancies were kept secret, even from their siblings, until much later in life. Reflecting on this, Hendrix wrote: “I loved both of these women very much, and the idea that they had been sent away to have children in secret and never talk about it again horrified me. I could not—cannot—imagine how scared, lonely, and desperate they must have felt.”
For a deeper dive into this heartbreaking history, check out Ann Fessler’s The Girls Who Went Away, a powerful book personally recommended by Grady Hendrix himself.
What is Witchcraft for Wayward Girls’s age rating?
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix is rated for readers aged 18+ containing adult themes, explicit violence and other content warnings.
What other authors like Grady Hendrix are there?
If you enjoy horror with a distinctive, quirky and campy flair, Stephen Graham Jones is a must-read because he balances chills with sharp humour, satire and heart in a way that feels fresh and unexpected. And since Grady Hendrix is known to draw inspiration from Stephen King, diving into King’s works might also hit the spot for you.
