Salem Witches Week: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

by:  Katherine Howe
published by:  HarperCollins
publish date:  May 2009

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.

I read this book about a year ago.  It's one of those books I still think about from time to time.  That's always a sign of a really good book.  The writing in this book was particularly good.  The author easily intertwined the past with the present day in a new and interesting way.  I really enjoyed this book and I thought it was an intriguing mystery type book, but I thought it had a little too much supernatural to go along with it.  That was just my one little negative about it.

Salem Witches Week: YA Fiction

This is quite a popular subject in YA Fiction.  I worked my way through three of the Young Adult offerings that featured the Salem Witches.

by:  Celia Rees
published by:  Candlewick
publish date:  April 2002

Mary's grandmother is executed for witchcraft, and Mary is forced to leave her home to avoid the same fate. At first she flees to the English countryside, but when the atmosphere of superstition and suspicion becomes all consuming she leaves on a boat for America in the hope that she can start over and forget her past. But during the journey, she realizes that the past is not so easy to escape.


 

 

 

 

 

by:  Anna Myers
published by:  Walker Books
publish date:  September 2009
 
An orphan named Drucilla has finally has a place to call home with the Putnam family in Salem. Although her adopted mother is strange—haunted by a troubled past—Dru feels drawn to her as the mother she never had. When a new reverend and his family move into town with their servant Tituba, life takes a strange turn as young girls begin to fall ill and accusations of witchcraft begin to swirl. Reluctant to turn her back on the Putnams or her peers and overwhelmed by the power of groupthink among the other girls in town, Dru becomes one of the accusers herself. But when her best friend Gabe is accused, she must find a way to end the hysteria, or risk losing him forever.
 


by:  Kathryn Lasky
published by:  Scholastic
publish date:  1996

When, in the winter of 1691, accusations of witchcraft surface in her small New England village, twelve-year-old Mary Chase fights to save her mother from execution.



Can't get anymore succinct than that, can you??
 
 
Of these three books, Time of the Witches was probably my favorite.  I felt like it gave the most information while at the same time was the most enjoyable to read.  I also felt like it really emphasized the mass hysteria aspect of the whole tragedy. 
 
Witch Child was my second favorite of the three.  I liked the natural remedy aspects and how healer women were unnecessarily persecuted. 
 
Beyond the Burning Time wasn't a bad book by any means.  I just couldn't get into it for some reason.  Maybe I was on overload by the time I got to it or something?  It was similar to Time of the Witches, but it didn't read quite as well to me.  I wouldn't say you shouldn't read it because it was in the required reading section of the library and it got there for a reason.  It just wasn't my particular cup of tea.

Salem Witches Week: The Writings of Kathleen Kent

Today we're spotlighting the books of Kathleen Kent. 

by:  Kathleen Kent

published by:  Little Brown and Co.

publish date:   September 2008

Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft. This is the story of Martha's courageous defiance and ultimate death, as told by the daughter who survived.

by:  Kathleen Kent

published by:  Reagan Arthur Books

publish date:  November 2010

In the harsh wilderness of colonial Massachusetts, Martha Allen works as a servant in her cousin's household, taking charge and locking wills with everyone. Thomas Carrier labors for the family and is known both for his immense strength and size and mysterious past. The two begin a courtship that suits their independent natures, with Thomas slowly revealing the story of his part in the English Civil War. But in the rugged new world they inhabit, danger is ever present, whether it be from the assassins sent from London to kill the executioner of Charles I or the wolves-in many forms-who hunt for blood. A love story and a tale of courage, The Wolves of Andover confirms Kathleen Kent's ability to craft powerful stories of family from colonial history.

 
 
 
 
I absolutely adored both of these stories.  I actually read/listened to The Wolves of Andover first and thought it was wonderful.  It was the book that somewhat inspired the whole idea of the Salem Witches Week.  It got me more interested in learning more about what happened. 
 
Both of these books are extremely well researched.  Kathleen Kent is a 10th generation descendant of Martha Carrier and knows her history well.  She has a deep love and respect for her ancestry and it shows in her writings.

Tomorrow we're spotlighting YA book, there are several!

Salem Witches Week: Introduction

This week we're going to do something a little different.  We are going to spotlight fiction books that feature or relate to the Salem Witches.  319 years ago, on June 10, the first woman was hanged as a witch.  18 more men and women would follow, including Giles Corey who was crushed to death.  It was a terrible time in American history and there are a lot of books that discuss the events that became known as the Salem Witch Trials.

For this first day I'm going to have to do something a little unusual for a book blogger.  There were a few books that I wanted to read, but I just didn't have time to get to them before this came up in the schedule.  I'm going to point them out and maybe you'll have some time to read them!

by:  Rose Earhart
published by:  Pendleton Books
publish date:  April 2000

Dorcas Good, the four year old daughter of Sarah Good, who was hanged as a witch in Salem, MA, is arrested and taken to prison, herself being accused of being a witch. Mistreated by her cruel father and others in Salem, she learns to endure physical, emotional and sexual abuses. Befriended by the pirate Jack Quelch, Dorcas is finally rescued from the dark dank prison, but not before suffering permanent emotiional damage.

The novel, written in diary form, allows the reader to experience the flavor of life in 1692 Salem, and finally tell the real stoiry of the savagery and terror of the Salem Witch Trials. It is probably the first recorded case of child abuse in this country.

This book was fairly difficult to track down.  My local libraries didn't have it and it wasn't in the interlibrary loan system.  I managed to get it from the main library in the next city over.  It's a very large book and I still have it, I just haven't gotten a chance to read it.

by:  Brunonia Barry
published by:  Flap Jacket Press
publish date:  July 2007

Look into the lace . . . When the eyes begin to fill with tears and the patience is long exhausted, there will appear a glimpse of something not quite seen... In this moment, an image will begin to form . . . in the space between what is real and what is only imagined.

Can you read your future in a piece of lace? All of the Whitney women can. But the last time Towner read, it killed her sister and nearly robbed Towner of her own sanity. Vowing never to read lace again, her resolve is tested when faced with the mysterious, unsolvable disappearance of her beloved Great Aunt Eva, Salem's original Lace Reader. Told from opposing and often unreliable perspectives, the story engages the reader's own beliefs. Should we listen to Towner, who may be losing her mind for the second time? Or should we believe John Rafferty, a no nonsense New York detective, who ran away from the city to a simpler place only to find himself inextricably involved in a psychic tug of war with all three generations of Whitney women? Does either have the whole story? Or does the truth lie somewhere in the swirling pattern of the lace? 
Obviously, this one is not directly related to the Salem Witches.  It supposedly has something to do with their descendants living in modern day Salem.  This one was much easier to find.  I located it in most libraries.  It looked like a fairly interesting read and I hope to get to it one day.

by:  Ann Rinaldi
published by:  Gulliver Books
publish date:  September 1992

Susanna English desperately wants to join the circle of girls who meet every week at the parsonage, but she doesn’t realize the leader of the group, the malicious Ann Putnam, is about to set off a torrent of false accusations that will lead to the imprisonment and execution of countless innocent people-victims of a witch-hunt panic.

This one is a YA book, and we will be featuring YA books on Wednesday.  This one looks to be fairly similar to Time of the Witches as that one focuses a lot on Ann Putnam as well.    I do have this book at home so it'll be interesting to see how the two book compare. 


Of course, there's also The Crucible and who didn't have to have to read that in high school?  I know I did, but I need to reread it.  I hope you'll stick with us the rest of the week to see what else we have going on.  Tomorrow will be the writings of Kathleen Kent.  Make sure to check back!