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.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘A perfect horror for our imperfect age’ – The New York Times

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

In this twisted, unforgettable horror novel, a group of young girls turn to a dark, ancient magic. From Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group.

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 important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

And where every moment of their waking day is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them.

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.

There’s 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.

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.

READERS LOVE WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS . . .

‘I was drawn in from the very first page’

‘Gave me chills’

‘Tackles female rage brilliantly’

‘Disturbing but brilliant’

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls was a No. 5 Sunday Times bestseller the w/e 18th January 2025.