witchcraft for wayward girls by gracy hendrix

i havent read a book this well written and thought out in a long time. i devoured this book within 8 days, which is impressive for me as my version had almost 500 pages of teeny tiny lettering.

to start, if i have ever in my life had the wince of an urge to bear a child, all of that urge was thrown out the window by reading this book. pregnancy wasnt describe as this god given miracle but more like a burden which is a feeling i think i would relate to as the idea of a pregnancy is horror by itself for me.

short summary:

the book is about 15 year old fern, that gets sent to a home after becoming pregnant before marriage. she is to stay there the remainder of her pregnancy, then give her child up for adoption and return home. easier said then done.

after finding out one of her friends in the home was raped by her pastor and her child is to go home with him, she turns to a witchcraft book given to her by the librarian that visits the home every 2 weeks.

the witchcraft turns more intense and the librarian shows her her actual goal, to take over her body as hers is dying of cancer. so fern has to fight evil witches as the same time as battling pregnancy and the theft of her daughter after giving birth.

my opinion:

what really fascinated me about this book was the way it was described. the vibe felt somewhat similar to that of "the virgin suicides" in how descriptive it was about the girls. in most books girls are well described as perfect somehow but in these books their flaws are brought out. their acne, sweaty skin, grime on their hands. smells, feelings and locations felt real to me, as if i was part of the story.

it felt as if i too was a child that was stuck in that home, as if i experienced the horrors firsthand.

i loved how imperfect the characters were. how human they seemed.

it is a gothic horror book and i think thats the best description there is. it was super scary at times and dark and mysterious at others.

the descriptions at times were so gut wrenching, i was physically squirming, holding the book and pulling faces at how disgusting things were.

like when rose pulled out her own fingernails, i could imagine the feeling so well, or when fern cut off her tongue i had to put the book away for a bit because the pain was so descriptive i could imagine exactly how they felt.

i was a bit saddened by the fact that it is another book were witches are portrayed as evil, manipulative and capturing, but i was pleasently surprised by the end that it was only the librarian and all the other witches turned against her. and that they took holly in, which lived with them for the rest of her life it seems, was something i actually had not seen coming.

the end in itself made me cry, it was so beautiful that rose was reunited with her daughter, that all three of them were still friends and that ferns own daughter ended up finding her.

all in all i rate this book a 10/10, there was nothing that majorly dissatisfied me and the whole thing was just beautifully written.