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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: That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film by Payton McCarty-Simas

cover art for That Very Witch by Payton McCarty-Simas

 

That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film by Payton McCarty-Simas

Luna Press Publishing, 2025

ISBN-13: 9781915556608

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

Payton McCarty-Simas’ That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Movie analyzes the cinematic witch’s evolution and relationship to feminist movements from the 1960s to the 2020s. Using historical, social, and feminist models for basis of analysis, they examine how the witch became viewed as both the feminist representation of empowerment and fear. McCarty-Simas’ analysis of the witch film reveals how the witch has been portrayed over time, reflecting significant changes in American culture and politics.

 

A brief history of early European witches, and their associated witch hunts, or “crazes,” driven by bigotry, misogyny, and racism, creates the basis for the contents of the book, as these are central to the concept of the witch. The author addresses the concept of the witch as a symbol in feminist circles, what can be learned from various witch cycles through history, whether witches through time can be considered feminist figures, and more, in their analysis of witch films.

 

In Part 1, “Season of the Witch: The Countercultural Witch Films of the Long Sixties,” the author explores witch films from 1960 through 1973, including the birth and death of the witchsploitation film in the context of the sociopolitical climate of the era. Part 2, “Unpleasant Dreams: Feminism, Satanic Panic and the Witch Films of the 1980s,” takes the reader through the rise and decline of the Satanic Panic. McCarty-Simas expands on how this era’s witch films responded to the earlier witch cycle film, the Panic’s effect on the figure and evolution of the witch and Satan, and antifeminist rhetoric pushed by conservatives that the role of working women, as well as the innovation of home video technology and the VHS, were to blame for Satanic cults lurking around every corner. Particularly interesting in this section is that McCarty-Simas highlights the “Satanic Panic specials,” framing them as horror comedies. For readers who have seen clips or the full version of such shows, you know why the author includes these as horror comedies. Over-the-top “reporting,” alleged experts on Satanic Ritual Abuse who spread disinformation, and decrying explicit material in horror movies while in the same show describing in great detail what happened to alleged victims, are just a few of the reasons the author correctly includes them here.


“Interlude: Notes on the Postfeminist Witch Film (1990-2013)” focuses on the witch film in terms of Third Wave feminism, Riot Grrrls, girl power, the commodification of witches to teenagers, and the bitchification of the witch. The author presents an insightful analysis of
The Craft and its overall failure at intersectionality, and discusses girl and women witches in the Harry Potter franchise. The author includes some television series from this time period as examples of dark fairy tales, highlighting American Horror Story: Coven and its successful portrayal of feminism, race, and intersectionality.

 

Part 3, “Gender, Genre, Psychedelics, and Abjection in the 2010s ‘Witch’ Horror Cycle,” examines 2010s witch films, tying the “demonic woman” to the cycles in previous chapters. A major visual the author uses as a tool for analysis is the smile of the heroine or final girl at the end of horror films, comparing them to how the meaning of this expression can be interpreted on the face of a witch at the end of her film.

 

I would be remiss if I did not address a significant issue with the text, that being the “Works Cited” section. There are links that point the reader to academic library databases where an account is needed to access the articles or books, Google Books links, and broken links, rather than using DOIs (digital object identifiers) or stable URLs. Correct citations bolster the text and provide readers with further information. This includes directing readers to the resource itself.

 

Regardless of the problems with the citations, That Very Witch would be a good resource for readers interested in the history of the American witch film in terms of particular political climates, social movements, and historical context. It provides an extensive film and mediography that has increased my watch list. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on November 4, 2025 by , Reply
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