Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Maternity homes were rife in the USA between 1945 and 1973, where young women were sent to have their illegitimate babies before being handed over to conventionally stable couples for adoption.

The essential core of the book is shocking, with women being treated as unimportant baby-making machines while their equally illegitimate fathers carried on as before, probably impregnating other young ladies while they were at it.

The most interesting aspect of this book is the historical fiction element, teaching us a great lesson at how far society has come over the last 50 years, back in a day when black people weren’t even allowed to mix with whites in public transport.

After scrolling through multiple 5-star friend reviews, it begs the question, if everybody is wrong in their ratings then perhaps the wrong one is me for only giving it 3 stars?

It comes down to Grady Hendrix’s delivery, short sentences, over use of pronouns and the way he steps on the gas to only let off again instead of hurtling into the barriers at full speed, conscious of not overstepping the mark and instead catering for a commercial horror audience.

Or maybe it’s the book’s structure: essential facts first, storytelling second, with the novel being written on top of an amazing concept instead of the other way around.

I had a ball with his earlier book, We Sold Our Souls, with his cute and sometimes facetious delivery, but WFWG is boring for always going back to being nice and for making sure everyone lives in harmony before the next potential onslaught, as the impending sense of doom falls away while the idle chit chat comes back to the fore.

There are some particularly gory childbirth scenes however but not enough grit besides the natural horrors of history and harrowing real-life events, with the witchcraft elements feeling like an aside for a more interesting story, which sadly isn’t exciting, constant or malicious enough.

This is my fourth Grady Hendrix book, each time getting drawn in because of book club picks and hype, but coming away disappointed for not punching hard enough, which is a bit annoying because other great authors don't get a chance to shine in favor of horror-lite commercialism.