Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

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⭐ 5/5 Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix ✨🧙‍♀️💔

👉 Grab Witchcraft for Wayward Girls on Amazon (affiliate link) 📚

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⚠️ Trigger Warnings

This one is heavy, friends. Please read with care:

• Teen pregnancy 🤰

• Coercive adoption & forced separation 💔

• Sexual abuse ⚠️

• Medical trauma 🏥

• Religious manipulation ✝️

• Racism & systemic injustice 🚫

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✨ My Honest Thoughts

Who would have thought a Grady Hendrix novel would leave me teary-eyed instead of checking my locks before bed? Certainly not me. (Okay, confession: the only Hendrix book I had read before this was How to Sell a Haunted House, and let’s just say… not my fave. 🫠)

But Witchcraft for Wayward Girls? 🔥 Incredible. Emotional. Important. Honestly, I think this might be Hendrix’s most meaningful work yet. The subject matter is heavy—pregnant teens in the 1970s sent to maternity homes, stripped of their names, their choices, and their babies. And here’s the kicker: it wasn’t that long ago. Not medieval times. Not even the 1800s. We’re talking 1970s America and Canada. That’s what makes this book sting so much—it’s haunting because it’s real.

As a woman myself, I couldn’t help but ache for these girls. Their lack of autonomy, the way they were treated as problems to be “fixed,” the raw injustice of it all—it hit hard. But at the same time, Hendrix weaves in horror and witchcraft in a way that felt cathartic. Magic becomes rebellion. Sisterhood becomes survival. And tears? Yeah, they definitely happened.

⭐ 5 out of 5 stars. Unforgettable.

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📖 Spoiler-Filled Plot Summary (You’ve Been Warned 🚨)

Arrival at Wellwood

We meet Neva, a 15-year-old pregnant girl, who gets dropped off by her father at the Wellwood home for unwed mothers. At Wellwood, girls lose their real names. Neva becomes Fern. They’re expected to give birth, hand over their babies for adoption, and forget the entire ordeal.

She quickly meets the cast:

• Rose: fiery, justice-driven, unafraid to challenge authority.

• Holly: a young, silent girl, carrying a horrifying secret about the family pastor who assaulted her.

• Zinnia: the only Black resident, who immediately faces segregationist policies from Miss Wellwood.

The staff? Cold, manipulative, and cruel. The doctor invades their privacy, the social worker gaslights them into “choosing” adoption, and Miss Wellwood herself treats them like misbehaving children.

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Witchcraft & Rebellion

Enter Miss Parcae, the mysterious mobile librarian, who hands Fern a copy of How to Be a Groovy Witch. What starts as a silly spellbook turns into something real. The girls test it by casting nausea onto their doctor—success! ✨

Soon, magic becomes their coping mechanism, their rebellion, their secret sisterhood. But not all the girls are on board. Zinnia is skeptical, Holly is too fragile, and Fern is torn between hope and fear.

When Rose is manipulated into giving up her baby against her wishes, the girls vow to fight back. Miss Parcae tempts them deeper into her coven, offering real power but demanding loyalty.

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Escalation

Spells grow darker. Miss Wellwood literally gives birth to a bucket of writhing eels (yep, Hendrix horror flair in full force 🐍). Stones rain down on Wellwood. Girls collapse under storms of supernatural and systemic oppression.

We learn Miss Parcae is dying—she wants Fern to take her place and carry the consciousness of thousands of witches. Fern is terrified, but her loyalty to her friends keeps her in the fight.

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The Heartbreak

Holly’s story reaches its tragic peak: forced to give her baby to her abuser. Desperate, the girls summon Miss Parcae’s coven to save her. In a storm-soaked finale, Holly sacrifices herself, taking her baby and vanishing with Miss Parcae into the woods.

Fern gives birth, but the system wins—her baby is taken despite her pleas. Rose is crushed after losing her child. Zinnia stands strong but furious at the injustice.

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Years Later

Time jump:

• Rose rebuilds her life and reconnects with her daughter.

• Zinnia marries, finding happiness.

• Fern finally reconnects with her grown child, who forgives her and understands the impossible choice.

It’s bittersweet. Witchcraft didn’t fix everything. But solidarity, memory, and survival? They endure.

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🧙 Themes That Stuck With Me

• Bodily Autonomy: the lack of choice was chilling, and it mirrors real history.

• Female Solidarity: these girls only had each other—and their bond was magic.

• History’s Proximity: the 1970s weren’t long ago. This isn’t ancient history—it’s within living memory.

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📚 Final Rating

⭐ 5 out of 5 stars.
Equal parts horror, history, and heartbreak. Hendrix proves he’s not just about jump scares and haunted houses—he can hit you right in the gut, too.

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✨ If You Liked This, Try…

👉 The Girls by Emma Cline 🌸
👉 The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave 🌊
👉 Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate 👶
👉 The Power by Naomi Alderman ⚡