Being a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s book Silver Nitrate, I was stoked to get an ARC of her next horror story, The Bewitching. My enthusiasm was rewarded with a gothic novel of folklore, witches, and dark academia.
Content Warnings:
The Bewitching is a horror novel revolving around missing persons cases and murder.
Be mindful that there are instances of body horror, classism, incest, and rape.
“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.
The Bewitching is the tale of women connected across time and distance by blood, witchcraft, death, and the determination not only to survive but to destroy the danger posed to them. We begin with Minerva Canterras in 1998 at a New England college. She is studying for her Masters degree and hyperfocused on an unknown (fictional) author, Beatrice Tremblay. Then we have Minerva’s great-grandmother, Alba, in 1903 who is visited by her beloved uncle after the death of her father. She desires a better life away from farming and country sensibilities. Finally, we have Beatrice Tremblay in 1934, a writer who is in love with her roommate Virginia, a spiritualist who’s disappearance creates a ripple through time.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia showed what a horror movie geek she was in Silver Nitrate. Now she shows us that her geekdom doesn’t end with film but branches out into classic horror literature. As a fellow horror geek, I loved this.
The Bewitching’s chapters set in 1998 with the character Minerva are my favorite. I am a huge fan of retro nostalgia in horror but also related to Minerva as a horror fan and general weirdo among her peers. Because of this, I decided to geek out a bit and create Minerva’s play list (she constantly has her Discman with her and makes burned CDs for other characters) as well as a list of books that are or might be on her bookshelves. Not included is the list of movie and tv show references like Pink and the Brain, Kwaidan, The Real World, and Poltergeist.
Dark academia fans will love The Bewitching. Minerva and Beatrice both walk in the shadows of stone campus buildings, linger in archives and libraries, and are caught up in occult studies one way or another. References to early weird horror writers and horror classics abound. Discussions of classism and finding, missing students, scholar burn out, and more fill pages between lurking and whispering ghosts.
We also have a gothic story of folk magic, vampires, and mystery, particularly in Alba’s story in 1903. This part of the book felt like a lush black and white silent film. I could imagine Alba, in her mourning veil, eyes wide with terror as she faced dangerous creatures, witches, and men who loved her too much. It had the drama, the body horror, and the painful twists and turns that I felt hard as the reader.
I am a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s work and The Bewitching definitely earns its place on the shelf among my most beloved horror novels. I highly recommend it for fans of her earlier work as well as fans of dark academia, gothic romantic horror, and horror mysteries.
