The Lost Book of Salem by Katherine Howe
Penguin $32.95 pb ISBN 9780718154394
This book is a clear winner and should find a place in the hearts of many readers. Populated by strong, interesting and gifted women, the novel has an appealing, feisty heroine, strong feminist elements and is an irresistible mix of fast-paced, supernatural thriller and historical fiction. Combine all this with the right touches of humour and the possibility of romance and you have a recipe for success.
The story connects past and present as its setting alternates between the era of the Salem witch trials and contemporary times. You’ve probably encountered this time-switching device with dual plotlines before and you know that it can be annoying and frustrating. Howe manages it so masterfully that I was equally invested in both stories until the end. In fact, I didn’t want it to end at all.
The novel was originally published as The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Physick is an archaic word for healing or medicine and it is the quest for this rare book which takes centre stage in the novel.
I would have loved to have been a student in her [Howe's] research and writing seminar on New England witchcraft where one of the assignments she set required participants to find two methods of un-bewitching a cow and present the pros and cons of each.
Our heroine is Connie Goodwin, a Harvard graduate, preparing for her doctoral dissertation under the supervision of a predatory academic called Manning Chilton. Asked by her mother, Grace, to help out with family matters, she becomes caught up in the mystery and history of her past and her grandmother’s old house in which she finds an ancient key inside a seventeenth century bible. There is only one clue—the name Deliverance Dane on a piece of parchment.
Who was Deliverance Dane? Is Connie connected to her and what is the secret of the coveted book? Strange things begin to happen as these questions preoccupy Connie and lead her on a dangerous journey of discovery.
Howe is completing a PhD in American and New England Studies. I would have loved to have been a student in her research and writing seminar on New England witchcraft where one of the assignments she set required participants to find two methods of un-bewitching a cow and present the pros and cons of each.
For many generations, dating back to the 1620s, her family lived in the area around Salem, Massachusetts. She is a direct descendant of two accused Salem witches, one survived and one did not. She became interested in her family’s history while qualifying for her doctorate and her book asks us to consider what may be contained in our genetic inheritance. On one level, it is a moving tribute to her antecedents to whom she refers as ‘those vanished people’. In a fascinating Postscript entitled Real Witches, Real Life, she gives the reader a brief overview of the history of the Salem witch trials and the origins of the ‘cunning folk’ tradition (local wise people who sold their ‘occult’ services).
As it happened, at the time I was reading Howe’s novel, the film version of The Crucible by Arthur Miller (based on the notorious Salem witch trials) was screening on TV and I’d recommend it as nice visual adjunct for getting in the mood of the times. I don’t know if Howe’s book has been optioned for a film but I could well imagine it translating very successfully to screen. Someone should snap up the rights!
I was spellbound by the stories Howe wove through her novel and I’d highly recommend it for anyone who likes a good thriller and is interested in the history of witchcraft. It’s a must-read for budding feminists who should be equipped with at least some knowledge about one of the worst periods of persecution of women in world history.
© Paula Grunseit 2010
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