Fern feels utterly powerless when her parents send her to rural Florida after they discover that she is pregnant. It’s 1970 and there are few options for girls in her situation. The boy who helped her get pregnant doesn’t want to marry her. She has no relatives in other places who will take her in. Abortion is illegal and out of reach for those who don’t have the money to travel. No one offers Fern any choices that might give her a little control over her own life until a strange librarian hands her a book that changes everything. Grady Hendrix’s novel, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, is a deeply moving and utterly terrifying read; I had an absolute blast reading it.
Miss Wellwood’s home, located in rural Florida and smothered in Southern Gothic atmosphere, is far from welcoming. As soon as she arrives, Miss Wellwood lays out how she expects Fern to comport herself until she delivers. Follow every order. Don’t ask questions. Eat only what you’re given. Don’t use your real name. Don’t tell any of the other girls about your past. Then the social worker cajoles Fern into signing adoption papers for her child. The days trudge along as Fern and the other girls do chores, endure appointments with the callous on-site doctor, and try to amuse themselves before lights out. One of the few pleasures available is a bookmobile, which arrives every two weeks with a mundane selection of books. Fern is desperate for any kind of entertainment when she snags a copy of How to Be a Groovy Witch from the mobile library.
This guide to witchcraft makes a lot of promises to its readers—at least any readers who might be willing to take a chance on magic. Being upset, feeling helpless, and nearly friendless at Miss Wellwood’s turns Fern into one of those readers in a matter of weeks. I enjoyed the way that Hendrix flirts with the question of whether or not the “magic” Fern and her few friends attempt is real. On the one hand, there are plenty of more plausible reasons why the doctor with the permanently cold hands has suddenly started vomiting uncontrollably. On the other, it’s a weird coincidence for the doctor to start vomiting at the same time that her friend’s hyperemesis disappears.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls escalates from there. Fern is absolutely convinced that she and her friends worked magic. If magic is real, it means that they no longer have to put up with adults who “know best,” who never listen, who insult them, who make them give up their children. Magic means a new slate of options to choose from. These options have their own cost, however, and this is what really fascinated me about this book. The price of each work of magic Fern performs is echoed by the metaphorical costs of her decisions. Fern has to confront pain and sacrifice at every turn. She also has to deal with the universal truth that the best laid plans aft gang agley, something that’s even more true when one is messing around with magic.
I can’t say enough good things about this book. Hendrix writes with a heart that bleeds for the girls at Miss Wellwood and isn’t afraid to constantly up the stakes for his characters. I loved every chapter.