the physick book of deliverance dane review

Katherine Howe’s writing drives the story forward with a nicely coiled plot and end-of-chapter cliffhangers - all of which make the pages almost turn by themselves. Her little detective project comes with unexpected side effects, including but not limited to, disturbing visions, library sleuthing, a touch of romance, and the growing realization that she and the legacy of the house might have more to do with Salem’s dark past than she knew.

Attached to the key is an aged slip of parchment inscribed with a name: Deliverance Dane.Ĭonnie does what any alarmingly curious researcher would do: She begins a quest to learn everything she can about Deliverance Dane and the mysterious power of the physick book, thought to be a repository for lost knowledge. Whilst rambling through the house, Connie discovers an antique key inside a seventeenth-century Bible. She’s also been recruited by her mother to sell her deceased grandmother’s decaying estate. Our heroine Connie Goodwin (note the subtle nod to infamous Salem witch trial victim Goody Proctor), is summering in witch town to finish her doctoral research. It begins in an abandoned mansion, just as a good story set in Salem, Massachusetts, should. This description comes from the 2009 Voice hardcover edition.This New York Times best seller embodies adjectives like spellbinding, beguiling, enchanting, and bewitching. Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the witch trials of the 1690s and a modern woman's story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation. 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.Īs 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. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible.

But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation.

* A spellbinding, beautifully* written novel that moves between contemporary times and one of the most fascinating and disturbing periods in American history-the Salem witch trials.

The physick book of deliverance dane review