Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

De: Grady Hendrix

Narrado por: 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

They were never girls, they were witches . . . .


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, 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, frightened, 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 the 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

Reseñas de la Crítica

“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

Grady's best book yet

My favorite Grady Hendricks book so far. I was enthralled from beginning to the very end and am feeling heart broken that it is over and I can never read it for the first time again. The characters were well developed and I immediately liked the main girls. There were so many layers of horror, from the horror of the times to the horror of the situations I was left with my jaw dropped many times. I gasped, I cried, I left different. I can't recommend this book enough.

Such a great listen!!

This is the first audiobook I’ve been able to completely listen to. Had me hooked from the start!

Such a beautiful, raw, angry book!

Do not expect this to be a quick fix, where magic does not cost a thing. This is a book about women, power, birth and friendship. About the cultural prisons built for women since, well, always.
Grady Hendrix, and this is a heartfelt compliment, has written an open eyed book about the sufferings of teenage pregnant girls in the seventies. About male privilege. About race. No condescension, no sugar coating.
I read a review in Goodreads, and the reader complained that this was not Harry Potter. She was very mean about it. I am a Potterhead myself. and no, this is harder and meant for more astute and mature readers; for people that can handle hard to swallow truth with their magic. There is no Hogwarts here, just the American South.
I always found a slanted feminism in the other books by Grady Hendrix, but always softened a little by jokes. Here, his feminism comes back and bites your ass, it is so sharp. Also, there a beautifully written parts.
It is always exciting to read how a writer comes into his powers. (And I didn't like How to sell a Haunted House at all; I am not an easy customer).

Amazing book

10/10 early in 2025 but this book is so good! Best book I listen to so far

uncomfortable, in a different way

I have always enjoyed how Grady Hendrix's writing makes me feel just a little uncomfortable at some point, an unease that I need to adjust my sitting position, pause an audio book, dog ear my page, or go to the attached PDFs and give myself a small break, but not leaving. This book made me really uncomfortable, in a different way, as for 47 years, I've tried to steer clear of birthing stories because, even as a woman, I cannot fathom the things that are written about in this book, or worse. I stayed though, and it hurt, but it was worth it.

Narration in the final two chapters took me out of the book. Pronunciations did not match the way the character spoke in all previous chapters and it really stood out listening, so I knocked a star off for the performance. If those chapters were redone, 5 stars all around.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a must-read.

Grady Hendrix’s Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is more than just a horror novel—it’s a haunting exploration of identity, grief, and the desperate need to belong. The story follows a pregnant teenager who is sent away to Florida, where she finds herself in a home with other young women in the same situation. From the very beginning, Hendrix captures the deep sense of loss that comes with being cast aside, the loneliness of having your choices taken away, and the struggle to define yourself when the world has already decided who you are.

What makes this book so powerful is how it weaves real-world struggles with supernatural horror. When the protagonist encounters a witch who offers her a way to feel seen, valued, and connected, it’s both thrilling and heartbreaking. The witch is more than just a typical horror antagonist—she is a force that preys on the vulnerable, but also, in some ways, provides a twisted form of solace. The tension between danger and desire, between agency and manipulation, runs throughout the book, making it impossible to put down.

Narrator almost ruined this for me

All the moaning and shrieking was really hard to get thru but thankfully I finished the book. I loved it.

Read this

Amazing beat from Grady yet I will never forget the story of these girls especially holly it was so amazing

Not what I was expecting

The book went a whole different way than I expected. Empowering in a way. Great listen.

Heartbreakingly good

Kind of makes you hate humanity, but I am already there most days so that was fine. The themes of women and power and the ways to take it really spoke to me.