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Book Review: The Witch of Willow Sound by Vanessa F. Penney

The Witch of Willow Sound: A Novel

The Witch of Willow Sound  by Vanessa F. Penney

ECW Press, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1770418424

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

The story starts with the burning of a woman. Author Vanessa F. Penney details the fire singeing the feet and its expansion as it rises up her body, the crackling sound of the fire, the color of the smoke, the logistics afterwards, the small rituals that have to be done when you burn a witch. It is easy to get rid of the flesh, but what to do with the bones? The prologue yanks you into this novel about the disappearance of Madeline Luck, the local witch, though the rest of the book is a slow burn (no pun intended).

 

Madeline Luck has been missing for three months. Her niece, Phaedra, also known as Fade, is given the task of finding her, due to the family’s rightful distrust of the local police department. Even though she used to be very close to her aunt, especially when she lived with her at Willow Sound, Fade hasn’t seen her for over 20 years. 

 

The reader follows Fade’s steps as she makes her way up unmarked paths to get to her aunt’s house, atop a secluded cliff in Nova Scotia, and works through the mystery of her disappearance. As Fade gets deeper and deeper into the case, she exposes shocking town secrets, uncovers literal skeletons in the closet, and learns the deep history of witchlore from a bumbling but lovable historian named Nish, who becomes Fade’s sidekick in solving the mystery. The novel keeps you guessing until the very end to find out if it was Fade’s aunt, Madeline, that was burning at the stake at the beginning of the book, or if she was the one that set the fire. 

 

The book moves at a slow pace, with each detail mentioned being an important clue to the final resolution. The author has a gift of bringing you into the woods where Madeline’s ethereal house stands, with a haze over the sound and a large shadow cast upon the nearby, distrustful town of Grand Tea. The town is literally under a shadow of a huge rock which threatens to fall and crush the residents. The air is full of suspicion and tension, directed at Madeline, who the townsfolk blame for all their misfortunes. Fade will not find any help from them.

 

The Witch of Willow Sound  is a delightful book that transports you into the landscape of Nova Scotia. It explores witchlore, and feminist ideas of the suspicion of women who do not conform to the gender norms expected of them. Even though it is labeled as horror, I would say it’s more of a mystery, with historical and gothic elements. It is a sweet tale about memory and expressing your appreciation of people before they are gone. Fortunately, Fade discovers this before the end of the novel.

 

This would make a great book for a reading club and would spark great debate about how society views women who live just for themselves. Men living alone in the woods are “self-sufficient” but somehow women living on their own are viewed with suspicion and labeled as witches who need to be taken into the fold. Labels such as cat lady (witches are also known to have black cats) and spinster (an occupation of spinning wool into yarn which was a way for unmarried women to support themselves during the Middle Ages) have similar attributions. Why can’t some of us just like animals more than people and be left alone with our hobbies without fear of being burned at the stake? Is that too much to ask for? Recommended. 

 

Reviewed by Lucy Molloy

 

Posted on December 4, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Berkley, 2025

ISBN-13: 978-0593548981

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:   Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

It’s 1970. Neva is 15, pregnant, and lost. Her father leaves her at the Wellwood Home in St. Augusta, Florida, a maternity facility for pregnant teens. Miss Wellwood, the proprietor, runs her home with strict rules and reprimands the girls about their loose morals and poor decisions. the adults in charge include Diane, a social worker who guides the girls through their time in the Home;  Dr. Vincent, a cold elderly man with traditional views on women’s healthcare, who prescribes restrictions and other cures for the girls, with a focus on the babies; Nurse Kent, who minds the girls at night and when needed; Hagar, a Black woman who runs the kitchen; and Hagar’s sister Miriam, who instructs the girls on their domestic roles, such as proper cleaning of the Home.

 

The adults are not the focus of the story, of course. It is the girls, renamed by Miss Wellwood as flowers, as though she is tending a special garden. Neva is renamed Fern. Rose, a radical hippie who wants to keep her baby Blossom, is a force to be reckoned with in the Home. Always on strike, she fears nothing and no one… until she does. Holly has been through terrible trauma in her short life, at the hands of a powerful member of the community. She’s wild, refusing to allow people to get close to her, and remaining mute until she finds her voice. Zinnia is a musician who loves the father of her baby, swears they will marry upon her return home, and tries to ignore what she was put through at the hands of her mother when her parents found out she was pregnant. There are other girls, and as one leaves, she is replaced by another flower.

 

One hot summer day, the local library’s bookmobile arrives with librarian Miss Parcae at the wheel. She presents Fern with a book called How to Be a Groovy Witch, a powerful tome that opens a new world for Fern, Holly, Rose, and Zinnia. There is something special about this book, and it reveals more to them the deeper they go as they form their own small coven and cast their first spell. The unassuming librarian is more than she seems. As Fern and the girls become more involved with witchcraft and the librarian, they find their newfound power comes at a painful price.

 

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is powerful. I read the ARC, hardcover, and audiobook versions. Author Grady Hendrix opens the ARC with a letter to the reader, while the published version includes a statement in the acknowledgments, where he provides a brief history of these homes, and shares the experiences of his own family members. There are visceral depictions of body horror in terms of giving birth, which I had a difficult time getting through. Medical horror, especially regarding women’s health and trauma, is difficult for me to read.

 

Hendrix’s ability to write about and from the perspective of girls and women is incredibly effective and well-executed. Readers who enjoy this book may also enjoy his other books, especially The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and We Sold Our Souls.  Highly recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on November 24, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: Counted with the Dead by Peter O’Keefe

Counted With the Dead by Peter O'Keefe cover art

Counted with the Dead by Peter O’Keefe

Grendel Press, 2024

ISBN: 978-1960534118

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

Set in the 1990s, Jack Killeen, working in the dirty Detroit underbelly, is the mob’s hired gun. He hates his job.and wants to make a change. Victor Moravian, art collector and businessman, will be his last kill. However, things do not go as Jack plans. A mad doctor has created a monster using body parts from Jack’s victims, and animates it with Victor’s brain. Jack, accompanied by his brother Marty, has to stop the monster Jack is partially responsible for unleashing in the city.

 

DeRon is the assistant to Dr. Drettmann, a mad doctor, working in a secret lab. He initially believes in the professor’s mission, but a mishap with an experimental surgery on DeRon’s mangled leg, and Drettmann’s new project, have him questioning his role in everything.

 

After Victor’s transformation into the beast he is, he retains his own memories as well as of those parts of whom he is composed. Angry and lost when he escapes the lab, he leaves a trail of blood and gore wherever he goes. Lonely, and with memories of the love of his life, he goes back to the doctor and demands a mate.

 

Marlene, beautiful Marlene, was the love of both Victor and Jack’s lives. Married to Victor, she has an affair with Jack, who refuses to tell her the truth about Victor’s disappearance. She inevitably becomes a target of the beast’s desire for a bride. He takes vengeance on the other women in Jack’s life to obtain other pieces for his new companion.

 

This was a surprisingly fast-paced story. To be honest, I was not sure that a modern Frankenstein story would meld well with a mobster crime story, sprinkled with a bit of tech horror and body horror, but O’Keefe made it work. The action reads very much like it is would be easily adapted for the big screen. The characters, while not particularly likeable, are distinct and memorable. Something that I found particularly interesting was the way Jack put together a team to confront the beast. It felt more like the building of an adventuring party. In fact, other works that did this well, such as Lord of the Rings, are mentioned in tongue-in-cheek ways. O’Keefe does an amazing job with making Detroit looming and oppressive at the same time. This will be a good read for those looking for a different interpretation of the typical Frankenstein story. However, readers who do not deal with animal death to approach this with extreme caution, as it does happen in this book. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on May 21, 2025 by , Reply
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