Witch’s Inheritance by Paige Hender
Henry Holt and Co. – BYR Paperbacks (July 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Home is where the monsters are…
Paige Hender is a Canadian-born, Louisiana-raised cartoonist with a degree in comic art from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She currently lives in Shreveport, Louisiana, with her cat, Chaplin. Witch’s Inheritance is her debut young adult graphic novel.
When Edie Birch receives a letter after her high school graduation from her dead grandmother in Hart Creek, she’s surprised. She’s even more surprised to find out she’s inherited the family house. An invitation to investigate her past and live alone in a house is just what she needs, until she discovers that she’s a witch, the house is magic, and she’s got a family responsibility to protect the town from goblins. What begins as a magic calling quickly delves into something much darker, especially when Edie discovers how responsible her family is for everything, good and bad, that happens in Hart Creek.
Paige Hender has written and illustrated a very exciting tale. The characters are well-developed, and Hender’s blending of a haunted house tale, folk horror, and archival horror is really clever. What makes this story so intriguing is the way it constantly subverts readers’ expectations, which plays well into Edie’s own narrative arc. Readers are constantly second-guessing things, all the way up to the final Midsummer festival. Though it’s geared towards YA audiences, Witch’s Inheritance will excite adult readers, especially fans of folk horror, too.
