Review: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe


My rating: 4.0/5.0
A very interesting look at the time of the Salem Witch trials mixed with somewhat current day research.



About the Book:

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest--to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

As the pieces of Deliverance's harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined.

My Review:

I had heard of this book when it came out - it was all over the blogs and finally my time came up on the library list. I anxiously awaiting reading this book and finally I did. It's a wonderful book. I enjoyed learning more about Connie and the women she was researching starting with Deliverance Dane. I loved the look at the Salem witches which I actually know very little about besides the fact that they held trials and murdered innocent people. The look into the life of Deliverance was fascinating and the search for the book written by her was very suspenseful and kept me reading until the end.

I loved the characters, Connie made a great heroine of the book - she was unsure of herself and her place in life and the search for the book and the history really helped her grow as a person. I found her to be a little slow at times but still liked her. I loved her flighty mother and her best friend Liz.

The plot moves quickly and switches back and forth in time from 1991 (present) to 1692 when the witch trials where taking place. As Connie slowly pieces things together it's like a slower Da Vinci code search kind of feel. I loved seeing where the research took her next, what bombshell might be dropped, and was evil lurking just around the corner. The magic and Christian witches sideline made a very interesting plot line and didn't bother me a bit. It just made things interesting and gave an interesting look into a time I am unfamiliar with.

Challenges:
100+ Book Challenge
Support Your Local Library Challenge
Fall Into Reading Challenge 2009