The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Ratings15
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings15
Average rating3.5
***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.**
Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. 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.
As 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.
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 description comes from the 2009 Voice hardcover edition.
Series
2 primary booksThe Physick Book is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2009 with contributions by Katherine Howe.
Reviews with the most likes.
Reread this today since the sequel is coming out soon. It's such an interesting way to tell the story of Salem. I'm looking forward to the sequel. Some of the characters seemed a bit unrealistic on certain topics - Sam not knowing about the witch trials despite living in Salem and having studied some of the stuff was a bit much. And I will say, listening to the book rather than reading a physical copy, plus the way the reader said the word, made me really notice the overuse of the word “coif”.
This was an excellent book. You can tell it was very thoroughly researched. But it was not dry at all. The story kept building and made me want to keep reading it or actually listening to it because I did it as an audible book. The narrator was excellent and did the voices very well so that I knew right away who was speaking.
Eh. Just can't get into it. Some parts are great, but there are not enough of those for me.
UPDATE: Listening to this book is way better than reading it. There are some places where I am tempted to start thinking about the little details that don't make sense. However since I'm listening to it, the book keeps going on and I don't stay thinking about it.
I like the plot and the way the “bewitching” is explained. I like the way the author made me feel like I was in 17th century Massachusetts.
Connie is not my favorite character because there are some obvious things that she didn't pick up on for a while. I like her relationship with the people around her though. There are a few things that I wanted explained better, but I'm not going to throw out spoilers. I did really like the way she tracked the book throughout time. It made a lot of sense.
So that explains a lot of the book. There are annoying pieces that don't make sense, but there are also other parts that are done really well.
This book took a while to get going and I could see the ending coming. It was still interesting though.
