I have slept on Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Snoozed.
Deep sleep. Sleep walked.
I knew her book Mexican Gothic was WILDLY popular, and probably because of that, I avoided it a bit.
In truth, it became a book that a lot of "book tok girls" pointed to when explaining they read diversely. Mexican Gothic stood there, stalwart, all over book tok, in a pile of otherwise milk-toast books. So I was a little bit.. skeptical.
Secondly, Moreno-Garcia blurbed a certain book as a critical book in Mexican Horror history and I loathed that book, so I was sort of questioning a few things there.
But a friend of mine saw the cover of The Bewitching, stated it was "calling her" and I bought it as a gift for her, and then decided, what the heck- and read it myself as well.
Holy Heck! This was a delightful, and easy read! I can see why Moreno-Garcia's work is popular. This is definitely a horror story, but, it's horror that is approachable for non- horror readers. There are elements of historical fiction, multigenerational family sagas, folklore and the true horror of being a graduate student! And yes, this is a book that Book Clubs across the world would enjoy for the Autumn and Spooky season. It has just enough scariness, to thrill, but not enough to truly unsettle the reader.
No Spoilers- Readers are given a generational tale that crosses over time and place starting off at a small New England college in the 1930's, moving to a Mexican farm in the early 1900's and planting itself firmly in recent past. Each story line has a strong and clever female protagonist who must work against the supernatural - and societal expectations. For me the most enjoyable timeline was the 1930's but I see other reviewers liking others just as well. I especially appreciated that the moves between times was seamless. Minerva, the main main character in the near present day- is the anchor between the other time lines, as she works to unravel a mystery that involves the college's past and her past as well.
While this novel has twists and turns, I do feel like an astute reader can easily see the changes coming as Moreno-Garcia forecasts and foreshadows heavily. This isn't a book you want to read for "Gotcha" moments. It does have a satisfying ending, and has me interested in reading more of Moreno-Garcia's work.
My absolute favorite thing about this book - the EASTER EGGS- Moreno-Garcia playfully has inserted multiple easter eggs- references to multiple contemporary horror authors - you should see how many you can count. I got 5. I think there are more.
i did get this on Audio. Gisela Chipe was the narrator. SHE WAS STELLAR. I especially enjoyed the particular accents she employed, which made it very easy to tell which timeline I was entering into. She even got the sort of odd 1930-1940's telecaster type accent just right.
Have you read this one? let me know in the comments.
STATS
First Published: 7/15/2025
Pages: 368
Available as an Audio Book : Yes
Trigger Warnings: racism, occult, supernatural occurrences, ghosts, witches, alcohol use, incest.
(this is not a full list, read responsibly)
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