Just in time for Halloween, we have an extra-spooky #spellbooksaturday feature!
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
“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.
[source: bookshop.org]
I really enjoyed Moreno-Garcia’s Silver Nitrate and Mexican Gothic, and found The Bewitching to fall somewhere between the two— not quite as eerie as the former, and with more interesting character development than the later. Indeed, she has distinguished herself as a forerunner among contemporary horror writers (leagues beyond T. Kingfisher or Lucy Rose, in my opinion). With The Bewitching Moreno-Garcia expertly balances three timelines, with well-paced tension and echoes of Hitchcock’s 1943 classic Shadow of a Doubt.
Have you read The Bewitching? What were your thoughts? Share in the comments!
Since I stopped using Goodreads, I will be recommending books via Bookshop.org, and have a list of #spellbooksaturday features for folks to peruse. In the spirit of full transparency: as a Bookshop.org affiliate, I will receive a small percentage of book sales purchased through my links. If you find that off-putting, feel free to shop directly through Bookshop.org or your own local bookseller! My only goal here is to fight Amazon and the mega-rich.
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