Review: The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno really surprised me. I got an ARC of Silver Nitrate I think it was, last year? And at first, I was so interested in the story because it’s about a “cursed film” of sorts and the story was rich with information and history, but it lost me in the end honestly.

So when I was invited to read and review The Bewitching through NetGalley, I cautiously accepted. The story sounded interesting enough; a multigenerational story about 3 women’s encounters with witches. Minerva, living in 1999, Beatrice Tremblay in the 1930’s and Alba (Minerva’s grandmother) in the 1900s. 

Minerva is a fan of witches and the unexplained. She is a graduate student at a school in Massachusetts writing her thesis on the life and stories of the author Beatrice Tremblay. Minerva is fascinated by one of Beatrice’s stories inspired by the disappearance of her roommate Virginia. The cool thing is that Beatrice attended the very school Minerva is currently studying at and is the place where one of many disappearances occurred! Pretty interesting. 

Now, Alba, the grandma’s story is the best in my opinion. She lives on a farm in Mexico and the story begins, pretty much, when her father dies. Alba is a bit superstitious and knows a couple of spells here and there, but she hides her beliefs because they are looked down upon by some important people in her life. Including her mother and Uncle Arturo who is visiting from the city. But weird stuff starts happening and she has to use her knowledge of the supernatural to get out of all this alive and save her family (and farm). I didn’t suspect who was behind everything for a while and when it all came to light I had a “I knew it!” moment. It happened to me when I found out what was going on with Minerva during her timeline, though I realized it much earlier than I did in Alba’s timeline. 

This was very light compared to what I normally read, which is fine because I need that from time to time. The atmosphere created in all timelines were menacing and creepy, because there was this constant feeling of the characters being watched (or followed) and that is a “scary trigger” for me. The way it unraveled was utterly perfect. The story and themes in all the timelines are not super unique, but very well executed. So, needless to say, I enjoyed it a lot.

I submitted my review to Goodreads and gave it 5 stars. It’s going to be a popular book, I can tell. There is no way it won’t be in my opinion. It’s being released July 15th and I will be getting a copy for friends and family.

Well that’s all for now…

Until next time,

D. E.

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