Witchy vibes are wayward

-

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Grady Hendrix

482 pages, Paperback. First published January 14, 2025

It is the early 1970s and being a pregnant teenager is akin to being a blight on a society. The only way to hide the disgrace is to send them to a home, where they are reminded of their sins until the problem can be adopted away. This is the situation fifteen-year-old Fern finds herself in. Having fallen pregnant, she is shipped off and abandoned at the Wellwood House by her parents.

At the home, Fern meets other young women like herself, all scared and unsure of their future. They are all told giving their child up for adoption is the only viable option and that they will be able to go back to their normal life. The control exerted over their lives is stifling. Everything that eat, drink, when they shower, what they read, where they can go is controlled. They are powerless. It is not until Fern borrows a book from a librarian about the occult does she realise she may not be powerless after all.

Hendrix has captured the brutality of teenagers being stripped of their identity, personal agency and blamed for being pregnant, no matter how it occurred. This is not a nice world for these young women who are seen as nothing more than an inconvenience to their families. The hope given to them comes through supernatural means and there is always a price to be paid.

I enjoyed the book but I found that two elements the supernatural and the actual historical plight of the young women did not gel all that well. Initially, I thought this was a coming-of-age story and then the occult was introduced. I actually think that using magic to give to girls power over the situation, diminished the story. For the girls always had power within themselves they just needed to find a way to exert it. All the hallmarks were there for a really interesting story but for me, the threads were not pulled together to make it work.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A world without Marie Curie is it possible?

-
Image
  Half Life by Jillian Cantor  Paperback, 416 pages Published March 23rd 2021 by Harper Perennial What would have happened if Marya Sklodowska (Maria Curie) had not travelled to Paris in 1891 but remained in Poland? This is the question in Jillian Cantor’s ‘Half Life’. What could easily become a mess as you cross between two different stories with the same central character is deftly handled by Cantor. By giving Curie a sliding doors moment in time allows Cantor to explore the woman and the scientist in this fictionalised account of her life. Curie in both her guises is well realised on the page and has slightly different characteristics. That makes the switch easier and engaging. As the woman who remains in Poland and marries mathematician, Kazimierz Zorawski, Marie is still there but as Marya her ability to learn and follow her scientific pursuits is severely curtailed. You can feel her frustration ooze off the page that she knows as a woman she is there to support her husba...
Read more

This is no cosy mystery

-
Image
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good  Helene Tursten, Marlaine Delargy (Translator)  178 pages, First published January 1, 2013  Maud is an 88-year-old woman who loves to travel, is happy living alone, can solve problems on her own and is a serial killer.   This is a witty series of stories as we watch Maud ensure that she maintains her independent life style that allows for plenty of travel and giving grief to those who want her out of her spacious apartment.   Just read it, it is fun and breaks the mould on how little old ladies should behave.  
Read more

A favourite Australian Author

-
Image
"She had one of those dark mezzo-soprano voices, the colour of mahogany" It is these seemingly simple statements that capture the essence of a person that continually bring me back to the writing of Madeleine St. John. She is becoming one of my favourite authors and I so glad that I came across her works. Enough of the gushing. Simon and Flora Beaufort are happily married with three children, that is the surface view but St. John slowly scrapes away the layers of the marriage and exposes the frai ...more A Pure Clear Light by Madeleine St John "She had one of those dark mezzo-soprano voices, the colour of mahogany" It is these seemingly simple statements that capture the essence of a person that continually bring me back to the writing of Madeleine St. John. She is becoming one of my favourite authors and I so glad that I came across her works. Enough of the gushing. Simon and Flora Beaufort are happily married with three children, that is the surface view bu...
Read more