Title: The Bewitching
Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Publisher: Del Rey 2025
Genre: Horror
Pages: 357
Rating: 3/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Read Around the USA - Massachusetts; I Read Horror - Folk Horror
Where I Got It: Library
“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.
Moreno-Garcia is such hit or miss author for me. I absolutely loved a few of her books and then I really really disliked a few of the books. The summary of this one really caught my eye. I love witch themed books and was looking forward to a fun spooky mystery book. The first few chapters were intriguing. But as the book went on, I was less and less interested. The story seemed to just drag and drag. There were a few spooky things here and there, but mostly nothing for the longest time. I just wasn’t compelled to keep reading. I kept at it because it was a book club selection, but mostly I was just really really bored.
Next up on the TBR pile:
