Book Review

The Physick Book Of Deliverance Dane

                            By

                Katherine Howe

I just finished reading this wonderful book by a first time author earlier this evening.  I loved it!

     The story follows Connie, a graduate student from Harvard University, researching Colonial history.  A dilapidated home, once owned by her grandmother in Marblehead, Massachusetts falls into her custody.  While there, she stumbles across an old Bible with a key that holds a small scroll with the name Deliverance Dane printed on it.

     So begins Connie's quest to find who this Deliverance Dane is and why her name was found in her grandmother's house.  She soon discovers that Deliverance Dane was one of the witches tried and hanged in Salem two hundred years ago for witchcraft.  Embarking on this journey into finding out more about the mystery woman, Connie soon begins to learn about herself.  When her boyfriend, Sam is suddenly overcome by seizures and forced to stay in a hospital bed, the hunt for Deliverance Dane's spell book becomes even more time sensitive.  

This is a great read if you love the conspiracy surrounding the women accused of witchcraft in Salem in the 1600's.   The book goes back and forth between Connie's life in the present and the unfolding events of Deliverance Dane's life in the 1600's.  And soon, you see how their lives start to parallel.