The Bewitching
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted July 11, 2025
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Silvia Moreno-Garcia's eleventh novel will be published next Tuesday, July 15, but I received a free digital review copy from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I have been limiting requests the past few years and was going to wait on this, already having another advance book for July, but then NG, Edelweiss, plus someone from the publisher all emailed saying, "We know you want this, take it." How could I refuse? If you click the link on Silvia's name above you will see I have reviewed all of her previous novels, plus two novellas and a short story, so they were right, I did want this. I would have read it eventually, either buying it, or borrowing from the library.
Minerva Contreras is a graduate student at fictional Stoneridge College, near fictional Temperance Landing, Massachusetts, maybe the Cape Cod area or along Buzzards Bay. She is from Mexico, having obtained a partial scholarship, receiving extra income from tutoring in Spanish, as well as being a 'resident director,' duties for which included monitoring dorms and marking up students for violations. It is the summer of 1998, most students away for vacations, but Minerva is not the only one stuck on campus. There is her good friend Hideo from Japan, and her very much not good friend Conrad. Conrad's roommate Thomas had dropped out, leaving several boxes of his stuff. Minerva had been trying to find out where Thomas was, but he wouldn't return her emails, and he hadn't contacted any family or friends either. Most aren't worried about him since he had acted similarly in the past.
Minerva's major was English Literature, her primary interest being gothic thrillers and horror. She had been intrigued for years about Beatrice Tremblay's 1969 novel The Vanishing, partly due to the note at the end that said it was based on a real life disappearance. Beatrice had attended Stoneridge in the early '30s, and Minerva was hopeful of finding information about her and her writings in the school archives. Not much was available, but then Minerva discovers that one of Beatrice's fellow students was still alive, and a benefactor of the college. Carolyn Yates, née Wingrave, had lived in the same dorm as Beatrice, even though the Wingraves had a mansion, The Willows, not far from campus. Beatrice's roommate was Virginia Somerset, who had gone missing in December 1934, her body never found. The story at the time was she had run off with an itinerant Portuguese worker at the college, but Beatrice did not believe that. Minerva later learns Santiago had gone missing a week before Virginia, but the accepted story was still believed. Then Minerva meets Noah Yates at a party. He is Carolyn's grandson, his parents both deceased, and he lives at The Willows. He is very drunk at the party, so he doesn't remember inviting Minerva to the house to meet his grandmother. Carolyn is at first resentful of Minerva dropping by, but after a short conversation reveals she has some of Beatrice's journals, photos, and other things. She agrees to let Minerva study them, but only at The Willows.
There are three parts to the story: the 'current' events at Stoneridge in 1998; excerpts from Beatrice's journals and a later manuscript she wrote trying to piece together the clues around Virginia's disappearance; stories Minerva recalls her great-grandmother Alba told her about witches in Mexico. The only first-person narrative is in Beatrice's writings, Minerva's research and Alba's stories both in third-person. All three narratives have similarities, although Minerva at times thinks what she is experiencing is just in her imagination. As in most mysteries, there are a few red herrings, characters suspected then exonerated, things anticipated but the reveal being different. Minerva takes a break from her research to move the missing Thomas's things into storage, discovering a couple of books she had been hopeful of checking out from the library, plus a syllabus listing another which was missing. It turns out Thomas's advisor had that book, and records showed the next previous person to have checked it out was Virginia Somerset in 1934. Minerva borrows it from the advisor after seeing a note she is sure was written by Virginia. That note leads to the discovery of incriminating evidence.
Silvia has written other horror and fantasy books, as well as science fiction, and mainstream mysteries. She knows several other authors of course, and tuckerizes a few here. Beatrice Tremblay is fictional, but her last name is probably a reference to Paul Tremblay. I can't remember if it is Stoneridge's library, or one Minerva goes to in Boston, that is named for Molly Tanzer. Professors mentioned are Stephen Graham Jones and Nick Mamatas. Other writers are mentioned due to their stories of a similar nature, such as Lovecraft and Stephen King. Other parts of Minerva's research concerns other well-known but still unsolved disappearances. There are stories from all over the world about witches and warlocks, spells and counterspells. Those of New England are not unique, but are among the most famous in the Americas, from both before and after the Salem witch trials. Since Beatrice is fictitious, so is her novel The Vanishing, and so is the book that leads Minerva to important clues: Bell, Book, and Candle: Witchcraft in the New World. Whether witches are fictional or possibly real, in Massachusetts or Mexico, or anywhere else, they have figured into many memorable stories, including this one. Silvia's strengths have always been realistic characters and dialogue, and visually descriptive detail that sets the scene and mood. This book is no exception. Highly recommended.
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