I still remember the first time I read a gothic novel late at night with the lights off. The creak of the floorboards, the rustle of the curtains, and my own heartbeat became part of the story. When I picked up Joseph Stone’s A Blood Witch, I felt that same familiar chill return, the one that comes from reading a story that isn’t just spooky, but deeply emotional. This is not your typical ghost story. It’s a haunting family saga that stretches across centuries, exploring how love, loss, and memory can be just as powerful as any curse.
Stone begins his tale in 1946, in a quiet Connecticut home where young Sofia Tarantino shares a close bond with her brother Andrew. Their childhood closeness takes a disturbing turn, and from that moment the Tarantino family becomes bound to a supernatural force named Daedrian, a ghostly figure who follows generations of women through time. From this dark beginning, the novel blossoms into something much larger: part historical mystery, part gothic romance, and part psychological drama.
One of the most fascinating parts of A Blood Witch is how it moves between centuries. The story is told through letters, journal entries, and personal documents that span from the 1700s to the modern era. Through these voices, we see how the ghost of Daedrian keeps returning, charming and destroying women who can see him. In an old letter from 1765, a man named Elias Hawkins writes about his sister’s strange behavior and the mysterious presence of a man no one else can see. Later, in a priest’s journal from 1867, we read the heartbreaking confession of a dying nun who believes she loved this same spirit.
These historical sections feel incredibly real. Stone clearly did his research, and the way he mixes real historical settings with supernatural moments gives the story a believable, almost documentary feel. It’s as if you’re discovering lost evidence of a haunting that has lasted for generations.
In the present-day storyline, the novel follows Fran Tarantino, a young woman who inherits her great-aunt Aurora’s grand old estate and a stack of family papers that hide dark secrets. Fran is intelligent, curious, and sensitive, a believable and sympathetic heroine. When she meets Daedrian herself, she doesn’t realize at first that he is the same spirit who has haunted her ancestors for over two hundred years. What begins as fascination soon turns into danger, and Fran must decide whether she can break the curse that has trapped her family for so long.
Stone writes with a vivid, cinematic style. The descriptions of candlelight, music, and the echo of old houses make the world feel alive. His characters are full of emotion, they grieve, they fall in love, they struggle with guilt and temptation and their pain feels real. What impressed me most was how the author balances the supernatural with human feeling. The ghosts are frightening, yes, but the real power of the book lies in its emotional depth. It’s about family secrets, the burden of the past, and how easily love can turn into something possessive and destructive.
Even though A Blood Witch contains moments of darkness, the story never feels hopeless. Each generation of women fights back in her own way, and there’s a quiet strength in how they endure what comes. Stone’s female characters are written with empathy and complexity. They are haunted, but never helpless. This makes the novel feel less like a horror story and more like a journey through survival and self-discovery.
What makes the book especially engaging is how it connects history, faith, and folklore. Through Daedrian’s long existence, Stone explores how myths of demons and guardian spirits can shape entire families. The mix of romance, history, and supernatural tension keeps the story moving smoothly, and the transitions between time periods are natural and easy to follow. Even when the book dips into its darker themes, it remains beautifully written and emotionally sincere.By the final chapters, I felt both unsettled and moved. Stone brings the story full circle in a way that feels satisfying, tying together all the pieces of this long haunting. I closed the book with a sense of wonder and a strange sadness that the story had ended. Few horror writers today manage to make their readers care so deeply about the characters while still giving them a good scare.
A Blood Witch is for readers who enjoy gothic tales with heart, stories that make you think as much as they make you shiver. It’s elegant, mysterious, and full of atmosphere, but what stays with you isn’t the ghost. It’s the people, the love they carry, and the memories they can’t escape.
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Browse: Interview on Blood Witch
I graduated with a B.A. in Sociology from Hunter College in 2016. I have served as an artist for mural projects and studied Human Rights, educational systems, Urban Sociology and Creative Placemaking among other subjects. I have training as a direct support professional for adults and children with disabilities and I have served in Americorp for the 2019-2020 school year. As a member of Americorp, I have had coaching in anti-oppressive and trauma informed teaching practices. I have been a math teacher in the years 2020-2022 in Philadelphia.