This is one of those books that has me intrigued after reading its initial reviews. Foremost, it is a novel written in my favorite genre, that of historical fiction. Second, its subject matter holds tremendous fascination for me, that of witches, magic, spells and charms. Most compelling of all, the author is a direct descendant of two real witches from Salem, Massachusetts. How cool is that?
For centuries, women have been persecuted as accursed witches. According to the author, Katherine Howe, so called witches during the late 1600's are commonly known as cunning women. These are literate and bookish women, very much like Hermoine, who cure people with medicine, referred as tinctures, physicks and spells. People seek their help mostly as midwives or as vets for their farm animals.
Scenes from Harry Potter pop up everywhere as I read on. The talent is passed on from generation to generation. The witches are not evil women. On the contrary, they are devout and religious people. The herbs remind me so much of Harry's herbology class. Those shrieking mandrake roots are real and do look like babies, only they don't shriek but are really poisonous. Blue sparks do fly out from finger tips when magic power is used. Spell books do exist, known as a "receipt book" then which in reality is a recipe book, a recipe for spells.
The plot follows Constance, a graduate student from Harvard, spending a summer at her grandmother's run down cottage in Marblehead, where she chance upon a key in a Bible from which a thin piece of paper with the name Deliverance Dane is hidden. The search for the elusive name brings her to Salem, the site of the Salem witch trials, where she discovers more and more about herself and her ancestors.
When her boyfriend, Sam is afflicted by a curse, she turns to spells written on recipe cards in her grandmother's kitchen. Not only does the spell works, the curse bounces back to Connie's mentor, who covets Deliverance's book for his lifelong ambition in alchemy to make a philosopher stone.
It is an entertaining and flowing read. Though the story jumps from one time period to another, it has a clear linear path, interweaves fluidly and best of all, not overburdened by facts.
Thumbs up.
