The Bewitching
Minerva, a graduate student researching horror literature, stumbles upon a dark secret while investigating an obscure author. The author's most famous novel was inspired by a real-life disappearance decades ago, linked to a mysterious roommate and a terrifying encounter with a witch. As Minerva delves deeper, she fears the same malevolent force that haunted the past is now threatening her present.
College student at Stoneridge in 1934 who becomes an obscure horror writer; her novel "The Vanishing" is inspired by the disappearance of her roommate Virginia.
Minerva's great-grandmother; a young woman on a rural Mexican farm in 1908 whose family is targeted by a witch after her father's death and her brother's disappearance.
Mexican graduate student at Stoneridge College in 1998, researching horror author Beatrice Tremblay for her thesis and uncovering the family's history with a malevolent witch.
A well-connected Stoneridge student in the 1930s who heads a foundation and holds Beatrice Tremblay's papers; revealed to be a powerful witch behind the disappearances.
Beatrice's roommate at Stoneridge in the 1930s, rumored to have a psychic gift, who disappears under mysterious circumstances.
Not directly, but it draws on real folklore: the novel's threat is modeled on the teyolloquani, a blood- and heart-eating witch figure from Indigenous Mexican folklore. Within the story, one narrator's own horror novel is said to be inspired by a real disappearance, but that "true story" is fictional to The Bewitching itself.
It was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award and a National Bestseller, and was named a Best Book of the year by outlets including NPR, Elle, Kirkus Reviews, Book Riot, Library Journal, and CrimeReads.