Name: The Bewitching
Rating: 3.708333333333333 (12 reviews)

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Bewitching

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic. “In Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s sure hands, every uncovered secret is fraught with intrigue and creeping horror.”—Tananarive Due, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of The Reformatory A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, Elle, Kirkus Reviews, Book Riot, Library Journal, Crime Reads, She Reads “Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales. In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances. As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch. Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

M. Sosotris

An enjoyable gothic paranormal tale dripping with atmosphere!

I really love SMG’s books, and she navigates various genres so deftly, but my FAVOURITE books of hers are the ones that delve into the paranormal and the atmospheric such as Silver Nitrate, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, and, of course, Mexican Gothic.

This one stands up to those others nicely. The New England atmosphere is so well conjured up. You really feel ghosts and witches lurking in the shadows at all times. SMG’s characters are relatable and flawed and likeable as always (that’s one of her great strengths as an author), and the way she blends three timelines together is done very well, deepening the mystery and heightening the tension.

My one issue with this book (and it is quite minor as I greatly enjoyed my experience with it overall) was that the mystery at the heart of the story feels a bit thin. Now, perhaps the mystery isn’t the main focus. This works well as a paranormal thriller, but there’s some moments that so heavily telegraphed the big reveal, that I was convinced they were red herrings to the longest time. And when I was proven right, I found myself wishing the story was a bit twistier.

But despite the plot’s fairly linear progression, I still enjoyed the characters, the atmosphere, the way the different timelines wove together, and the wonderful prose.

And I just read that SMG just announced her NEXT book, a noir thriller, so now I HAVE to preorder that.

Hayden Lussi

I enjoyed this story and how the author connected witchcraft in New England with witchcraft in Mexico. I liked the three different points of view throughout the story and how they became tied together at the end.

The Bewitching

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