Book Review: The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I received an advance reading copy of this book thanks to the publisher. All opinions are my own.

The Bewitching follows three women in three different times, all faced with mysterious disappearances, danger, and the possibility of being cursed by a witch. We have Alba in 1908, in Mexico, whose brother disappears and whose family farm begins to fail. Despite her mother and uncle dismissing witchcraft as a foolish tale, Alba begins to think someone with dangerous abilities has targeted her. Years later, Alba’s great-granddaughter is a graduate student at a small New England college. Minerva is struggling to write her thesis about an elusive horror writer, Beatrice Tremblay. Tremblay’s one novel was said to be based on the real-life disappearance of another student but records are scarce. Until she comes across a lost manuscript, Tremblay’s own writing about what really happened to her friend Virginia.

Moreno-Garcia moves us between these three women, each navigating their own fears and struggles, in very different times and places. Yet the parallels become clearer and clearer as each one must face that something supernatural and dangerous is at work. More subtly, we see the challenges of young women through the years. Alba, Beatrice, and Minerva are all vulnerable in their positions. Beatrice and Minerva are both students, both needing to work hard to maintain their place and support themselves. Alba comes from a well-to-do family but after her father’s death, her family is struggling to manage the family farm.

This is now the third book I’ve read by Moreno-Garcia and with each one, at some point in the novel, I’ve felt pretty confident that I can guess what happens. And in each case I’ve been correct. But I actually don’t hate that. Moreno-Garcia writes books that are creepy but probably not outright horror. I don’t gravitate to horror and I don’t enjoy being scared. I can handle some light creepiness, which is exactly what The Bewitching provided. (I felt unnerved but not like I was being hunted by witches!)

I did enjoy that Moreno-Garcia explored a different idea of witches and witchcraft than I’ve seen much before in fiction. These witches are genuinely evil and creepily supernatural. There are clear rules to the dark magic in this world and the author keeps it consistent throughout the timelines. These evil beings are powerful enough to be terrifying to our characters but still make it seem reasonable that there is a possibility of defeating them.