The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine HoweMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
"What if, among those falsely accused during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, there had been a few actual witches?"...That is the premise of this historical novel, and Ms Howe delivers a good story...with a few flaws. Aside from a couple of characters who border on Caricature (the New Age Mom, the Evil Mentor), a didactic tone (at the beginning of the book i felt as if i were back in college, sitting through another History lecture), and the whole mystical, "blue-ball-of-energy" pyrotechnic display (Comic Book, anyone?)...this story of a missing Spell book works...or maybe because of these very things.
Ms Howe's scholarship is impeccable, but i felt her protagonist suffered for it. Poor Connie Goodwin was at sea in her own story, at times..bogged down by details and her own angst..with little room to move....Given the fact that both the author and main character have a Salem Legacy..i will carp no more.
Academic ambition, shaky ethics, the burden of History and Family are all here...this was an enjoyable read, all-in-all....One may not think of Witches in the same "olde wayes" again
1 comment:
I have so often felt like an author let the book get bogged down with the details, that they really wanted to get all of their research into the book. Glad to hear that this one managed to overcome that flaw.
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