book thoughts by shanda

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

This is my first book for the RIP challenge!

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Connie Goodwin, Harvard graduate student in colonial studies, interrupts her dissertation research to rehabilitate her grandmother's crumbling house in Marblehead, MA at the request of her mother. While there she discovers an ancient key in a 17th century bible with the name Deliverance Dane on a bit of paper. Through much research she finds that Deliverance was a "cunning woman" involved in the Salem witch trials. Connie also finds connections to Deliverance Dane that come close to home.

The book flip-flops between the 1600s and the 1990s forming an interesting picture of life in Salem. I enjoyed reading about life in Salem now and in the 1600s. Howe painted interesting pictures in my mind of life at Harvard and life as a woman in 1692. I also liked the characters. There were few of them and they were decently developed. The magical moments were well illustrated and felt realistic.

There are good things about this book, but my high expectations were unmet. I felt like nothing much happened in the first 200 pages, but then it picked up a bit after that. I did look forward to reading it and finding out the ending. It was also a bit predictable; "aha" moments for Connie were a little funny as the reader could figure out what was going to happen several pages before.

This wasn't my favorite book ever but there were good things about it and I would definitely give Katherine Howe another try in a future book. View all my reviews >>