Book Review:The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane provides an adventurous story with a touch of the supernatural, likeable characters and fascinating historical details. Connie Goodwin is a Ph.D candidate at Harvard studying Colonial America. While cleaning out her deceased grandmother's house in Marblehead, MA she discovers the perfect topic for her thesis when she happens upon the name of a possible unknown woman who was executed during the Salem witch trials. Following the clues, she also discovers that this woman, Deliverance Dane, possessed a book of "receipt" which she quickly finds out was probably a spell book. The bulk of the novel follows Connie as she tries to find this spell book, as she develops a relationship with a fellow historian and uncovers aspects of her own family history that she never knew about. The contemporary chapters are interspersed with chapters that tell the story of Deliverance Dane in 1692. For an adventure novel, the pace of this book is not very swift, but this gives the reader the chance to savor each chapter and to enjoy the research process that Connie undertakes. The supernatural elements of the novel are quite believable and even exciting. I relished this book and would suggest it to anyone who likes a thoughtful, intelligent adventure novel or to fans of fiction about the Salem witch trials and the Colonial period of American history. - Anbolyn (Downtown)