The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I would like to thank Arcadia for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Arcadia

Published – Out Now

Price – £20 hardback £7.99 ebook

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.

Why do we tell horror stories? Easy answer to scare us, to send those shivers down your neck or make us just glance around uneasily. But horror is also talking about our fears and also sends us warnings that yes there can be dangers in plain sight, some of which cannot be so easily removed by a dose of garlic. In Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s excellent horror novel The Bewitching we have a exquisitely crafted story of three women all within their own horror tales and a novel that reminds us of the power of stories to aid us from what may be lurking in the dark.

In 1998 Minerva is studying as a graduate student at Stoneridge College in Massachusettes. Here she studies the work of the comic horror writer Beatrice Tremblay who is not as well known as she should be but captured Minerva’s love of horror with her gothic classic The Vanishing apparently based on na true story and she too studied at Stoneridge. She is finally given access to Beatrice’s own diary and discovers the records all documenting the disappearance of one of Beatrice’s dearest friends. A tale of ghosts and superstitions but also potential madness and forbidden love. There are aspects of this story that remind Minerva of the story her own grandmother told s of her past in the countryside of Mexico when her family was hit by tragedy and all the signs pointed to that most mysterious of monsters a witch. Minerva also starts to notice echoes of both stories are happening around her as she gets closer to the truth she realises she too is now in great danger.

We are all familiar with the idea of one single story told over multiple time periods but what jumps out of this tale is that Moreno-Garcia has a interesting spin on the idea. Minerva in 1998 and Beatrice in 1934 are linked but we also have Minerva’s grandmother as a young woman named Alba in 1908. The initial response is that we expect some common character or event ro run through the story but what we get that really works is how its more of a parallel tale with Beatrice and Minerva’s with common themes and events but here acting more as a warning of what is to come and how it may be stopped. Ita reminder that horror stories exist in so many cultures sharing idea and themes but speak to a common human fear. The plotlines are told in alternating chapters which explore the echoes of the tales into each other also knowing just the right moment to raise the tension and then skip forward or back a few decades.

It helps all the stories and characters are impressively written with each strand has its own style. Beatrice’s tale told in her own voice is that of a young white woman in the thirties (secretly gay) but very much an observer. We get the glamour of the period still just after the great depression of rich families, parties and young own balancing studies with a future desire to be wives. Her tale focuses on Ginny a young student increasingly troubled by strange events that suggest someone is out to get her. We have spiritualism as Ginny performs spirit drawings and speaks to ghosts that are apparently warning her of danger. It’s a very impressive gothic style mystery of is a woman mad, running away from her life or in danger.  Beatrice does not at this point have any reference point for horror and so cannot help just watch on. Interestingly Minerva sees this as what led Beatrice to become the great horror writer she knows.

With Alba’s story we get a completely different third person tale of a Alba the daughter of a landowner who wishes she had urban sophistication as she becomes a woman. From the claustrophobic college of the 30s we have a family tale with villages and big open landscapes that may be full of danger. Alba is a complex character with an unsettling relationship to her very glamourous uncle who offers her glimpses of the life she so wishes she could have. The family though is hit by tragedy as Alba’s brother and head of the family has vanished unexpectedly. This could be bandits or misfortune but there are signs of something else at work. Here witchcraft enters the narrative, and we have signs, portents, ad dreams and a steady building of horrific events. This feels more folk horror in some ways as we discover places where witches offer bargains and Alba finds herself increasingly alone and in danger. Here as Alba is the main character, we really feel her finding out how dangerous her world is (particularly as a woman she has very little status of her own to influence matters) and she has very little to protect herself from what is getting nearer.

All of which hangs together with the gelling tale of Minerva in 1998, and this moves us into modern horror. I really liked Minerva a very introverted character balancing studies with work, racism and an increasing feeling she can’t finish her studies. Discovering Beatrice’s records is her big chance but it also involves her in a wealthy family’s own secrets and a worrying echo of another missing student. This has the feel more of a modern mystery with secrets, various suspects and a true building sense of horror.

Moreno-Garcia excels at building tension and then knowing when to let rip. There are some really deliciously creepy moments in this story where the characters find themselves in danger and the supernatural lets rip. I also like that this spin on the idea of a witch is a bit more monstrous and inhuman than the ones we tend to think of in most dramas. For me what really excels is how Minerva must put the two stories together and synthesise her own solution which is both ingenious and still keeping us guessing all the way through.

The Bewitching is a novel perfect for the dawning of the spooky season for fans of gothic, folk and modern horror as well as excellent storytelling and character work. I think you can appreciate both the story and the craft that makes it work which definitely underlines Moreno-Garcia as one of the best writers around. Very strongly recommended!