I’m always super excited when a new Grady Hendrix book comes out – not only are they fine examples of the horror genre, but Hendrix just writes such beautiful and complex female characters.
In this case, the book is set in a 1970s American home for unwed mothers. Most of the mothers are teenagers, sent there by their horrified and embarrassed parents who make up some story to explain their absence until they come back in a few months and carry on as if nothing had happened. The girls are not allowed to keep their babies, being fed endless propaganda about why it is the best thing to give them up for adoption as if they had a choice, which in fact they don’t. One girl in the home, Holly, was only about 11 and had been abused by her church pastor, which nobody would believe her about let alone help her. The main character, Neva, bonds with the travelling librarian that visits the home who gives her a book on witchcraft.
The main horror of the book though was not the supernatural stuff (although that was part of it) but the terrible way these girls were treated by the adults with all the power and seemingly no empathy or kindness towards the plight of these ‘wayward’ girls.
Neva tries to use her new powers to help Holly to escape from being sent back to the abusive environment that caused her condition, but it’s not easy and she doesn’t know who, if anyone she can trust or rely on.
It was a very thought provoking book and quite sad (and occasionally funny).
Sarah Wray Writer 