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Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

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( 89 ratings, 14 reviews)
Brief Description
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a twisted Southern Gothic horror from the New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group. 'I did an evil thing to be put in here, and I'm going to have to... Read More
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A Southern Gothic, feminist horror set in a maternity home in the 1970s from Grady Hendrix, the New York Times bestselling author of How To Sell A Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group.

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

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a twisted Southern Gothic horror from the New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group.

'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 importantly, 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.

'Twisted and smart' - Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street and Nowhere Burning

'Amazing' - Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of I Was a Teenage Slasher

'A morally complex and genuinely haunting and moving tale' - Paul Tremblay, author of Horror Movie and The Cabin at the End of the World

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781035030897

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 January 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Tor Nightfire

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 30.0mm

Width: 132.0mm

Height: 199.0mm

Weight: 332g

Pages: 496

About the Author

Grady Hendrix writes fiction, also called 'lies', and non-fiction, which people sometimes accidentally pay him for. He is the author of HorrorstΓΆr, the only novel about a haunted Scandinavian furniture store you'll ever need. His novel My Best Friend's Exorcism, about demonic possession, friendship, exorcism, and the 1980s, is basically Beaches meets The Exorcist. It caused The Wall Street Journal to call him 'a national treasure' and it received rave reviews from everyone from Kirkus to Southern Living. Surprisingly, this is still not enough for him to earn his mother's love.

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