This book is going to be a fabulous summer read! You are going to LOVE it!
First you need to know, according to the blurb on the back of the ARC, that this debut novel was written for National Novel Writing Month. Let this book be an inspiration to those of you who have a novel idea buried deep in the files of your mind. Mark my words, this book is going to be a RAGING success!
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is part "current" novel (set in 1991) and part historical fiction, set it in the times of the Salem Witch Trials. The alternating chapters tie the whole story together. And oh, what a story it is.
Connie Goodwin is a history grad student at Harvard. She has just finished her oral exams and is looking forward to a summer of research for her dissertation when she receives a phone call from her mother, Grace. While Grace is "cleaning auras" in the Southwest, she needs Connie to go to Marblehead to clean out her late Grandmother's house and prepare it to sell. Connie reluctantly agrees.
She arrives in Marblehead with her roommate, Liz and her beloved dog, Arlo. But this is when the story starts to get good. Her grandmother's house was originally built in the 17th century. It is without electricity and overrun with plants. It looks like it will be quite the task, but she is ready to get started so she can return to Cambridge & get on with her dissertation.
Her first night in the house, Connie finds a Bible that dates back to the original owners of the house. A key & a slip of paper fall out of the Bible. The paper has a name written on it, Deliverance Dane.
The name, Deliverance Dane, triggers Connie's inquisitive nature and she starts researching Deliverance Dane and the history of the house. Soon, Connie realizes that while the Salem Witch Trials persecuted innocent women, the existence of a book of spells is a very real possibility.
With the help of Liz and her new friend, Sam. Connie spends her summer trying to find this book that started with Deliverance Dane. And in the process she finds out some dark truths about her advisor, Manning Chilton, and her own family history.
Like I said, FABULOUS book. It has mystery, intrigue, folklore, and just a hint of romance. AND the author, Katherine Howe, is herself, a descendant of Elizabeth Howe & Elizabeth Proctor, two women accused of witchcraft in Salem. Katherine Howe has done her research well and has written a story that will cast a spell over you.
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