The Salem Witch Trials and the time frame surrounding them have always fascinated me. It's an interesting but not so original topic for a book. Katherine Howe has a family tie to this time frame because two of her distant relatives were accused. I loved the description of this book and really looked forward to getting into this one!
Connie Goodwin is an incredibly intelligent woman working towards her PhD. She discovers parts of her family's past when she must prepare her Grandmother's house for sale. She finds a key with a piece of paper, hidden in a key in a Bible. The name on the scrap of paper is Deliverance Dane. She pieces together the story of this mystery woman and finds ties to herself.
She gets pushed into research by her Professor, who seems quite shifty from the beginning. While she researches she bumps into Sam. Sam is quite hot and they start a little something something. *wink* I loved the first part of this book.
I would hate to spoil it so I'll be as vague as I can with the details. This book had me in it's grips from the start. It kept hold of my attention and kept hold til about a little over middle-ish. I don't know where it went South but for me it did.
The story is woven from bits of the past and "present." (The time frame for the setting is 1991) The past being revealed in alternating chapters that tell the story of Deliverance "Livvy" Dane and the "present" chapters telling that of Connie's life and scholastic troubles. I didn't mind this setting, in fact it made the story a lot easier to follow than books that use the flashback shtick.
I was disappointed that the ending was predictable. I had already guessed who the "bad" guy was and what would happen. I felt kinda blah at the end. It didn't really have any effect on me.
I'd give it a rating of 3/5.
Read The Daughters of Witching Hill. I read Deliverance Dane and had many of the same thoughts and feelings you did-- Daughters of Witching Hill gives a great realistic, historical picture of witches,women, the church and the social settings of the late 1500s to early 1600s in London.
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