Grady Hendrix, screenwriter and New York Times bestselling author, will make a stop at the Radio Room in Greenville to promote his latest novel, “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls.”
Drawing inspiration from two relatives who were sent as away during their teen years to stay in a home for unwed mothers, Hendrix set out to give readers a look into these places while adding a supernatural twist.
The horror novel follows a group of teenage girls who are sent to Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, in the summer of 1970 to have their babies. During her stay at the facility, 15-year-old 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. However, power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely.
“I have two relatives who very late in their lives both revealed they were sent away as teenagers to a home for unwed mothers,” Hendrix said. “No one knew and it was really mind-blowing. One of them reunited with her son and the other never reunited with her daughter. That always really stuck with me. I always thought this home in the middle of nowhere, where you are hidden from the world with other pregnant girls and you’ve all been told you were the worst people ever, there’s a story there.”
With the idea in mind, Hendrix started conducting research by going to St. Augustine for a week to read local papers from the early 1970s. He also looked through various catalogs from 1969 and 1970 to look at the clothes people were wearing, read stories about homes for unwed mothers and talked with medical experts and mothers about pregnancy and childbirth so he could depict it correctly in his book. Then he introduced the supernatural element to his story.
“I did two drafts of this book without witches in it,” Hendrix said. “It took me a while to be like, ‘right, witches,’ because witches have always been associated with childbirth. Whether there’s the urban legend that witches are midwives that are falsely accused of witchcraft or witches steal children. Witches and childbirth have always gone together.”
Hendrix’s appearance Jan. 28, 2025, is an off-site event hosted by M.Judson Booksellers. Admission is $35 per person and includes a copy of “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls.” For more information, visit mjudsonbooks.com.
