The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

by Katherine Howe
4 Stars
Historical Fiction, Witches
Setting: Massachusetts
371 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
This is a captivating modern-day novel that flashes back to the Salem witch trials. Were those charged really innocent? If you enjoy historical fiction surrounding the Salem witch trials, I think you would like this book as it has a bit of a different twist on what happened.

Book Summary
Interweaving two narratives, one set in 1991 and one set three centuries earlier, Katherine Howe's debut novel is a marvel of invention and historical reconstruction. The author employs her training as a historian to vividly depict the realities of 17th-century Salem, dramatizing the plight of the unfortunate victims as they fall prey to the mania of their accusers. But it is the leap of imagination by which she connects Connie to to that distant past that turns The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane into a bewitching reading experience.