In the summer of 1970, 15-year-old Fern wants nothing more than to live a normal life with her family and finish out high school. But a car ride with her father takes an unexpected turn when, without warning, he steers her straight to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida. Why? Because Fern has fallen pregnant, and this is where young unwed mothers go to hide their shame, have their babies, give them up for adoption, and then move on with their lives without anyone being the wiser. In fact, no one in Wellwood Home even knows each other’s real names (“Fern” is not Fern’s real name either).
Wellwood Home is a horrifying place lead by the tough-as-nails Miss Wellwood. Everything the girls do is strictly monitored, from the food they eat to the activities they do to each and every thing they discuss, no matter how seemingly minor. Still, Fern finds ways to forge friendships with the other girls at the home as they share in their predicaments and find small moments of hope and happiness.
One thing that shines as a beacon of hope and light for the girls, especially Fern? Reading. At a traveling bookstore, Fern discovers a strange how-to guide to witchcraft. At first, none of it makes sense to here, but the more she and her new friends dive into the strange spells and incantations in the book, the more the powers of witchcraft reveal themselves to the girls.
At first, witchcraft seems like the answer to the girls’ prayers: a way for them to find agency and power in a world that sees them as pariahs unworthy of sympathy and control of their own bodies. But nothing is ever that simple. A quest for revenge and power comes with dark consequences.
There are so many things I love about this book. First of all, the witchcraft. As an independent, free-thinking, child-free cat lady, I often find myself identifying with witches more than I fear them. I think Hendrix does a good job of acknowledging that side of witches while also making the magic and lore around them super scary and often grotesque. The way witches worked in this novel reminded me a lot of Robert Eggers’ The Witch in that way (complimentary).
The scariest part of this novel had nothing to do with witches and everything to do with the real-life terrors of being pregnant, especially in this country. Hendrix does not shy away from the more brutal aspects of pregnancy and the ways women often lose bodily autonomy the moment they become pregnant. It feels like it is getting more and more dangerous to be pregnant, so the realities of this part of the story are absolutely horrifying. It’s so worth reading and considering.