The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

When I reached out to one of my book groups on books about different witch trials, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane was one of the books most recommended. After reading the synopsis, I was drawn in by the low key mystery aspect of the story, but I was not sure how much else about the book I would like. As it turns out, I liked all of it.

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

It is late April 1991, and Connie Goodwin is a graduate student who is ready to start working on her dissertation. And then she receives a call from her mother saying that the house that belonged to Connie's Granna needs to be cleaned and put on the market. So Connie, who should be spending her summer doing research, is instead in Marble Falls, Massachusetts, where this house has sat vacant for twenty some years. At first, Connie is not thrilled with the idea of this; but, when she discovers a slip of paper tucked into a key that reads "Deliverance Dane," Connie becomes swept up in finding out who this woman is and what became of her. The more Connie learns of Deliverance's life in 1692, the more questions she has, and the more she questions if maybe there was some actual magic in Salem in the 17th century. Told from alternating views of Connie, Deliverance, Mercy (Deliverance's daughter), and Prudence (Mercy's daughter), you follow the progression of Deliverance's physick book and the strange connection between all four women.

For me, the book started out slow, and I was considering giving it up. I did not connect with Connie in the least bit. She felt very stuffy and uninteresting. She is not a person I would befriend in real life. And the few excerpts I have read from the past did not really grab me. But I at least wanted to get to where she discovered the name, because I knew that is when the story would start. I am glad that I held out, because once Connie starts to dig into her research of Deliverance, everything picked up and I didn't want to put the book down.

(Source: Giphy)

There were to aspects of the book that annoyed me because I feel like they are played out; one of them I came to terms with by the end though. The first one is that Connie and her mother, Grace, do not get along. It's not that the relationship is bitter and toxic. Connie is an academic and needs facts to believe; Grace is more hippie and has a go-with-the-flow mentality. Because of this, Connie just does not understand her mother and, in my opinion, devalues what Grace has to say because of it. While I know that sometimes these personalities do clash, I also know that they are able to work together, and I am tired of these personalities being played as enemies. The second aspect of the book that made me roll my eyes was Connie's love interest. Connie admits that while she has dated, she has always felt a bit awkward around guys and has not found someone that she can truly be herself with, and then Sam appears in her life, and everything changes. Not every character needs a love interest. However, towards the end of the book, you learn that the women in Connie's family have had bad luck when it comes to true love and plays a vital role.

(Source: Giphy)

Also, the bad guy in the book is not totally obvious. Chilton Manning gave me a bad vibe the first time he is mentioned, but I read a lot of suspense/thrillers and watch a lot of SVU, so my bad guy radar is pretty well in tune. But I don't think the average reader would be able to pick out right away that Chilton is not as good as he may seem. Granted, he does not try to kill anyone, but he is definitely not stable and he gets what he deserves. I feel that his evil-ness could have been played up a little bit more; but his encounter with Connie in the library definitely had me freaked out.

"Connie suddenly saw that she was trapped. Perhaps it was a coincidence, his appearing when she was so near to finding Deliverance's book, but she realized that there was the possibility, however slim, that it was not. As she gazed at her advisor's patrician face, his eyes a watery blue and bloodshot, his teeth yellowed by pip tobacco, she suspected her fear was true. He must have searched for the book himself and been unable to find it-that was what he had meant when he said he was doing some checking of his own. Now he had followed her here so that she could not conceal her discovery from him. But there was no escape. She had reached the last possibility on the list, and he was here, waiting." (p. 282)

(Source: Giphy)

This is definitely a book I would recommend to people. The author, Katherine Howe, does a good job at balancing historical accuracy and artistic freedom, painting an accurate picture of life in the 17th century for someone accused of witchcraft. She takes a different approach on witchcraft that I have not read before. Most books of the Salem Witch Trials either take the approach that witches were real and then follow all classic stereotypes of witches, or that the accused were not witches and were just the poor souls at the wrong end of an accusation of some horrible little girls. Howe however plays with the idea that witchcraft is real, but is actually intertwined with Christianity, and the male population of the church wanted to cover up the connection. Howe beautifully combines two ideas that are usually at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Rating: 7/10
Author: Katherine Howe
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Witchcraft
Dates Read: May 21-24, 2018