BookBrowse Reviews The Witches of Bellinas by J. Nicole Jones

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In an idyllic coastal community, beautiful wives fawn over their husbands…but the women might be the ones holding the real power.

To Tansy and her new husband Guy, both longtime New Yorkers, moving to the coastal California community of Bellinas feels like a dream come true. They're drawn to the small town for more than just its year-round perfect weather. In Bellinas, the pace of life is slower. The aesthetics are flawless. Beautiful women in flowing dresses weave, make pottery and nurse infants while the men surf and dive for abalone. To Tansy, who has always longed for a child, it feels like the perfect place to start a family.

This carefree lifestyle is sustained in part by the town's wealthy benefactor, a former tech CEO who now goes by Father M. Years ago, he bought up nearly all of the town, renting some homes to his equally glamorous friends, leaving others empty and acting as a patron to the few original residents remaining. He and his wife, Guy's cousin Mia, are the founders of the Bohemian Club, a cult-like group of Bellinas elites who gather for meals and pseudo-religious Sunday services. While Guy relishes the chance to rub shoulders with these powerful men and their gorgeous wives, Tansy senses that something is off. She's uneasy with the way the women cater to their husbands, who in turn all but worship Father M.

One of this book's most compelling themes is its exploration of power and gender. The women of Bellinas perform femininity in that sort of Instagram influencer way that is artfully designed to look effortless, and they are determined to mold Tansy in their image. In one memorable early scene, they surround her and literally strip her of her hiking clothes in the middle of a party to clothe her in one of their bohemian dresses. And while they are outwardly deferential to their husbands, Tansy learns that they hold more power than they're letting on. For instance, while they tell the husbands they won't vaccinate their children (Father M is a big financial backer of a new anti-vax documentary), they go ahead and do it anyway. It doesn't take much effort to hide this, given that the men see the mental load of managing medical appointments as women's work.

Tansy even begins to suspect that the women's control over the community extends into the supernatural. That might explain why Bellinas appears to be constantly protected from nearby wildfires, and why the guesthouse Tansy is staying in remains clean and the fridge stocked with no evidence of domestic staff. The women are content to let their husbands think they are in charge in exchange for the comforts of wealth and relative freedom from responsibility. Still, Tansy questions whether their concessions to keep peace with the men are worth it.

Gentrification, too, plays a role in this story. Father M grew up in Bellinas as the child of flower farmers and now, flush with tech wealth, has essentially taken over the town. A summer festival that once drew crowds from the surrounding area is explicitly limited to locals only, with ominous signs warning outsiders to stay away. A huge swath of luxury cottages lies empty, and Father M is content to leave them that way, rather than opening the town to those deemed undesirable. This book pushes the idea of a wealthy, separatist enclave to the point of absurdity, yet it echoes very real class tensions. Are the residents of Bellinas really that different from those who live in gated communities?

Throughout the book, there is an undercurrent of unease. At the beginning, as Tansy starts to narrate her time in Bellinas, we learn she is hiding out inside the town's empty schoolhouse. From what, we do not know. But as she goes on to describe the gorgeous scenery and the locals' appealingly cottagecore lifestyle, readers will hold their breath, waiting for the twist they know is coming.

This book is Stepford Wives meets Midsommar, and one could easily picture it being turned into a Sofia Coppola movie. Readers will be drawn in by the eerily beautiful vibes, and riveted by the complex exploration of wealth and gender roles.

This review first ran in the May 15, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.