The Bewitching, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, is an enchanting book that brings a gothic flavor to a story that feels very distinctly Latin American, and specifically Mexican. But there’s universality within the specifics, as Moreno-Garcia invites us to be part of a multigenerational tale of witchcraft, power, privilege, and the power of storytelling that feels like it could be about you or your family, even when it isn’t.
At times terrifying, always suspenseful, and yet incredibly grounded, Moreno-Garcia is perhaps one of the most captivating authors alive, and The Bewitching proves it.
If you loved Mexican Gothic, you will not be disappointed by her new offering. And, if, for some reason, you skipped that one, you’ll find yourself rushing to get it after finishing this book. That’s how good it is.
What makes the book special is a combination of beautiful writing, the kind that makes you stop to read a paragraph once, twice, and often four or ten times, as if by reading it slowly you can somehow understand how someone can make words come together so well, and very engaging characters. One without the other can produce a good book, but never an exceptional one. Here you have both in spades, and the result is the kind of book you can’t put down, and yet you want to re-read as soon as you’re done.
Minerva, the protagonist, feels as memorable as García Márquez’s Úrsula Iguarán Buendía or Isabel Allende’s Eva Luna, and yet it never feels like Moreno-Garcia is trying to emulate the writers that came before her.
With a style that’s wholly her own, and yet a story that at times reminds us of memorable books like Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind, The Bewitching is a magical story about, ironically, magic, family, and stories. What a combination.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about a book that’s very well written and that possesses incredibly compelling characters is that Moreno-Garcia doesn’t coast on these two things. Instead, she also develops an entertaining story that builds on a purposeful lack of connection, until it comes together in a beautiful, surprising fashion. Those of us familiar with Moreno-Garcia never doubted her capacity to deliver exactly what this book does: a gripping tale that you’ll be unable to put down and an ending that will both shock you and leave you satisfied.
It might not be what you thought, much less what you expected, but the best stories never are. And this book, coming in the middle of a 2025 that has already given us a lot of good stories, is probably already our Top 10 books of the year. And we don’t foresee anyone displacing it.
The Bewitching is available now, wherever books are sold.
