The Bewitching

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Book Overview

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

"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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593874323
• ISBN13: 9780593874325
• Release Date: July 2025
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

4 stars

THE BEWITCHING by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Historical fiction meets supernatural suspense with a mix of Mexican folklore, and New England witch lore. Spanning multiple timelines (a farm in Mexico in 1908, and a Massachusetts college in 1934 and 1998) this is the story of three women who become the targets of a witch determined to destroy them. This gave me Nosferatu vibes in the best way. I love the rich imagery of SMG’s prose; it brought the New England gothic setting to life, and I felt an overall sense of creepiness and foreboding as the story progressed. The world building took some time to get going, but the characters made up for it. Minerva, Alba, and Beatrice’s storylines touch on generational trauma, independence, self-worth, witchcraft and the occult. I was particularly invested in Alba’s chapters (even with the “unconventional” relationship) as it explains the roots of the curse and goes into detail about Mexican folklore. In short, this was a dark and moody, haunting and suspenseful read. It’s a slow burn, but the ending was satisfying. Recommend if you’re looking for a book to get you through “Summerween” and into Fall. Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

Absolutely Bewitching!

Wow, this was a haunting, or should I say bewitching tale told over three generations about three women and their encounters with a possible dark magic that seeks to take their lives and even souls for power. These are not your Practical Magic witches, no, these are based off more of the dark folklore of witches and they weave into this story into a gothic and dark academia of missing students and even further back to Nana Alba and her experiences as a young woman back in 1908. I really enjoyed this novel, especially as the main characters of Minerva and Alba (plus the written tale of Virginia) were quite likeable and I wished to help in their struggles to figure out the mysterious deaths/disappearances of those around them, along with the signs that dark magic may be the cause and how it can be countered, or if it is all in their minds. I feel like I learned a lot, at least with all the research Minerva was using to write her thesis plus the folklore of magic, how to protect oneself, or how to tell if you are being cursed, or how to destroy a witch that Alba ends up looking into after the disappearance of her brother. There is heartbreak in this tale, but also the strength of these young women as they fight their fate to become victims and forgotten. A well written story that is full of great characters and strength to fight the darkness, both supernatural and the everyday hardship of life. I highly recommend this book!