The Inky Phoenix | Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

How it Works Bookshop

Publishing Team Contact

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Grady Hendrix

Save to Your Books

Bookshop

Amazon

100% of affiliate revenue supports The Inky Phoenix

“Superb ... a perfect horror for our imperfect age.” – The New York Times

There’s power in a book…. They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. 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.

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (NPR).

Get the Bindery app

Posts about this title from The Inky Phoenix

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Aug 19 2025

Our 2025 Inky Phoenix picks so far …

Which are your favorites?

8 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • May 30 2025

WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS Zoom Conversation

This conversation was deeply powerful. For any of you who missed our talk.

1 book

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • May 16 2025

WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS Zoom Convo!

May 29th at 6pm ET!

1 book

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Apr 29 2025

Are you loving WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS?

1 book

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Apr 16 2025

The Great Stephen King Reread by Grady Hendrix in FIVE MINUTES!

Ready to be scared?

13 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Apr 4 2025

We made the Tertulia Book Club round up!

She a FANCY Phoenix.

1 book

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Apr 1 2025

And our April pick is …

👀👀

1 book

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Feb 16 2025

Inky Phoenix Chats — February 2025

It’s that dreaded time in publishing — trying to acquire blurbs (early reader praise) for LOCAL HEAVENS. Which inspired this video! Are blurbs impactful? Incestuous? Chime in on our Discord!

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/2Q5mQkzE Read The Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/31/simon-schuster-us-imprint-authors-blurbs-books

8 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Jun 14

Join for free

I have found the 3rd book that I want to publish. \ \ We still have to go out with an offer, they still have to accept it. It's a whole thing- and I've been here before and they don't always accept, but as of right now, I WOULD LOVE TO PUBLISH THIS BOOK. \ \ It's very different from the books that I am publishing so far and it wasn't the book that I was looking for, but it is a book that found me and I don't think that I'm going to be able to let it go. \ \ If I read horror, will I like it?\ \ I think if you only read books that are found in the horror section, probably not. \ \ But if you dip your toes in other genres, you're going to love it. People are going to love it. \ \ Here are the Audible tags I could see for the book: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical, Horror, Mystery, Paranormal. \ \ I think the book would sit most comfortably in fantasy or mystery, but romance fans, especially fans of Mimi Matthews, will be drawn to this, too!\ \ It's a little bit Jane Austen style comedy of manners, a bit mystery, a bit paranormal fantasy, and A LOT of fun. It's very clever. \ \ What's it about?\ \ It's 1875. We've got a Chinese matchmaker who matches people by reading astrology. We've got a vendor and his fortune telling parakeet. We've got some local gangsters. We've got a shaman.\ \ Our matchmaker has been asked to do the impossible- find a suitable match for A WHITE WOMAN!\ \ It gets a bit complicated because the woman is supposed to be married off to her father's legitimate wife's brother who has.......something SERIOUSLY wrong with him?\ \ This book is the perfect fall read. Perfect for spooky season. It's a little spooky. It's a little mystery. It's a little cozy with a little gore. Perfect to curl up with some hot cocoa on a rainy day. \ \ I also really like that, similar to What Feeds Below, we have some chapter openers that are notes and letters and think this could be really cool for design.\ \ I think that while not entirely genre specific, the book falls under the mission of stories that haunt and heal. \ \ I would love to know what you all think? Are you ready for something a little different?\ \ I'm gonna add some potential vibes below. \ \ Upgrade for $5 or login

I Want To Tell You About Book Three

4 books

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Nov 14 2025

Join for free

\ \ It's time for another author interview! Last week we talked with author Julia Jackson about her debut novel Powder & Poison. If you haven't read that interview you definitely should! Along with my interview with Stephanie Rose.\ \ This week help me in welcoming author Kelly Dwyer! Kelly Dwyer is the author of Ghost Mother, a chilling psychological/ghost horror.\ \ \ \ The book follows Lilly Bly and her husband as they take on a fixer-upper of a house way out of their price range. After purchasing the house, Lilly discovers the house has a dark history. Strange occurrences begin happening. Lilly begins to wonder if they are real or if they are all in her head.\ \ 1. Use this first question as an introduction. Tell us a little about yourself and your book.\ \

My name is Kelly Dwyer, and I am the author of GHOST MOTHER, a psychological ghost story. I'm a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and I currently divide my time between Los Angeles, where I grew up, and Wisconsin. I am married with a young adult daughter and a really cute pug named Roman.\ \ 2. You released Ghost Mother a year ago. It was such a powerful read. What inspired you to write it?\ \ Thank you so much, Ash. :) The day my husband and I were about to close on our first house, we found out there had been a murder in it. This was in Baraboo, Wisconsin, where the Ringling Brothers were from. Their first cousins were the Gollmar Brothers, who also owned a circus. Our house (a modest Craftsman, not a run-down mansion) had been built by one of the Gollmar Brothers, and when he died, his widow lived there by herself, and used to feed transients during the Depression. One night, during a robbery gone wrong, one of these men murdered her. My husband and I had a decision to make--knowing this, should we still buy the house? We decided that since it happened so long ago (in the 1930s), and since the woman who had lived in the house seemed really nice, we would go ahead, and indeed, we never felt any sort of haunting in the eight years we lived there. But it made me think--What if there had been the kind of tragic murder there that would make someone not want to buy a house? What if someone who bought the house did feel a haunting? What kind of person would that be? It was when I reread Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" and I started imagining the ambiguity of--is the house haunted or is the protagonist losing touch with reality?--that the novel really came together for me.\ \ 3. I absolutely love the "couple moves to a new house that needs repairs in hopes it'll save their marriage' trope that is featured in Ghost Mother. What are some of your favorite horror tropes? Any favorite books that feature these tropes?\ \ Yes, it's so fun to write--and read--books that dig into tropes or put a new spin on them! When I was writing GHOST MOTHER, I read a lot of haunted house books; I think my favorites, besides James', are The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, Rebecca by Daphne du Maruier, and The Shining by Stephen King. (See The Most Classic Haunted House books by Kelly Dwyer for an article I wrote on the subject.) I was also inspired by films like "Rosemary's Baby" and the TV show "The Haunting of Hill House." I think the thing that interested me the most about that trope was the question, "What is haunting you?" Two people--as you say, in this case, a couple--could move into a house, and one person will feel haunted, while the other doesn't sense anything. Is that because one person is more open to the supernatural? Is that because ghosts seek certain people out? Or is it because someone is so haunted by their past--their losses, their traumas--that they are prone to sense a haunting where maybe there isn't one? I don't know, but I love the question, and as a writer, I love the ambiguity involved\ \ 4. What was the most difficult part of writing Ghost Mother?\ \ The most difficult part of writing GHOST MOTHER was getting the backstory of the 1950s tragedy in the house right. It had to be compelling. I knew I wanted a nod to the circus, which had been a part of our former house's history. But it also had to be thematically resonant. I wrote three completely different backstories before my agent said, "Yep, this is it." Now, looking back, it seems so obvious, but wow, it took me a while!\ \ 5. Were there any scenes or characters that were harder to write than others? Any that were easier?\ \ Getting Jack and Lilly's relationship to feel real and be complicated was a challenge for me. Bobby Shawcross was the easiest character to write! I don't know where he came from, but everything about him--his speech, his voice, his appearance--just landed in my head fully formed.\ \ 6. Were there any scenes that you had to edit out of Ghost Mother that you wish you had left in?\ \ I love this question, because the short answer is, No! I sold GHOST MOTHER at a 100 pages longer than it is now. My editor asked me to make it tighter. She didn't tell me what to cut, or suggest a word count, but I knew I wanted it to be shorter than 350 pages. (I think it came in at 336 by the end.) To cut those hundred pages, I cut any repetitious scenes, started the story moving quicker, and cut out any unnecessary backstory. At the time, I thought maybe those scenes from the past were important so that the reader could understand and sympathize with Lilly, but after I cut them, I realized that I need to write them to understand and sympathize with Lilly, but the reader didn't need to read them. My new mantra is, When in doubt, cut!\ \ 7. Do you have any other projects in the works?\ \ Yes indeed! I am working on a new novel inspired by fairy tales, Hollywood, and a mansion with a bg, dark secret. It's a lot of fun!\ \ 8. 2025 has been a great year for horror. What have been your top three reads that you've read so far?\ \ Oh, boy. So many--and I'm so behind! I'm reading The Buffalo Hunter now, and it's taking me a while, because I read and reread Stephen Graham Jones' sentences again and again. He's amazing. I also really enjoyed and admired Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix, Hungerstone by Kat Dunn, The Lamb by Lucy Rose, and--one that was written a few years ago, in 1872, but I just read for the first time-- Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. Give me a gothic lesbian vampire story set in an isolated castle and I'm in!\ \ 9. Do you have any special routines that help you get ready to write?\ \ I like to set candles, set an intention. Like Proust and Edith Wharton, I write in bed.\ \ 10. If Ghost Mother was ever adapted into a film, do you have a dream cast?\ \ GHOST MOTHER is in pre-pre-pre-pre... production, meaning, my film agent introduced me to a director I really like, and she's interested in writing the screenplay and making the film. I would love to see this novel on the screen, and I feel like there are so many women actors about Lilly's age (37 or thereabouts) who would be amazing in the role: Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Portman (think of her in The Black Swan), Anna Taylor-Joy... maybe Florence Pugh wouldn't be too young by the time it was cast. :) I always pictured Jack as looking like Theo James. Anybody free?\ \ 11. Bonus question from Kelly: I'd like to ask you and your readers a question now, if you don't mind. Do you like horror books about horror movies? If so, what do you like about them? If not, what do you dislike? Do you have any favorites/ any recommendations? \ \ Thanks for the question, Kelly! I am a huge fan of Hollywood horror! There are several books I just love such as Night Film, Curse of The Reaper, Burn The Negative, Silver Nitrate, and more. I'll drop a few links to posts on my instagram where I showcase some more horror set on movie screens/ hollywood.\ \ Film/Hollywood Horror\ \ Hollywood Horror\ \ Special thanks again to Kelly for taking the time to talk with me! Be sure to pick up a copy of Ghost Mother if you haven't already read it. It was one of my favorites last year!\ \ You can follow Kelly on Instagram or on her website.\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/7nf3tTvIGO7Y4eK8lvTb/)

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: KELLY DWYER

14 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Aug 19 2025

Our 2025 Inky Phoenix picks so far …

Which are your favorites?

8 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • May 30 2025

\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://inkyphoenix.binderybooks.com/item/LylQDnDHU1N6wVzXZjyK/)

WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS Zoom Conversation

This conversation was deeply powerful. For any of you who missed our talk.

1 book

Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • May 23 2025

Join for free

Happy February Friends!🥰Let’s reflect on the last month

Happy February Friends!🥰

Let’s reflect on the last month: What have you done this January? What were your favourite moments?🤎

I find that January usually goes very slow and a lot tends to happen in it. This past month, I’ve made sure to hibernate and to plan, which is what @theslowcozy and I always say nowdays while we embrace our slow, cozy living lifestyle🍂🍄‍🟫

This month has been an adventure of reading, gaming, being obsessed with my small trinkets and starting a bullet journal or BuJo! I also spent some time recovering post my wisdom teeth extraction on both sides, preparing for an interview that I’ve got coming in a few days (eeek) and slowly readjusting back to normal routine🥺🤎

#cottagecorewitchy #amberacademia #honeyacademia #amberandhoneyacademia #monthlywrapup Cottagecore Witch Cottagecore Sabie Amber Academia Honey Academia Amber and Honey Academia Cozy Gothic Fantasy Books Cozy Games

7 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • May 16 2025

\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://inkyphoenix.binderybooks.com/item/dIJydUHnenRXf9WeVEgI/)

WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS Zoom Convo!

May 29th at 6pm ET!

1 book

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Apr 29 2025

Are you loving WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS?

1 book

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Apr 16 2025

\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://inkyphoenix.binderybooks.com/item/zhNkf18vUtcfov68SmDt/)

The Great Stephen King Reread by Grady Hendrix in FIVE MINUTES!