The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
by Katherine Howe
Pub. Date: June 2009
Genre: Fiction
384pp

Synopsis from BN.com:
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 secreted 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 colonial artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge of herbs and other, stranger things.

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 begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined.

Why I Picked It:
It had been highly recommended to me, and since it was constantly in front of me at every store, I finally cracked the spine to see what all the commotion was about.

My Review:
I have always been fascinated by the Salem witch trials, and so when I did finally start reading this book, I did so with great anticipation. I started off flying through the pages, but then went through periods of loving this book, to periods of being annoyed, to periods of fighting off sleep. Connie's story line - researching her dissertation, clearing out her grandmother's home, and falling in love - all good stuff. But I found her to be underdeveloped, too clueless about her family history. I about laughed when Connie had this sudden discovery that with all the virtue names she was researching in Deliverance Dane's line (Deliverance, Mercy, Temperance...), and then thinking of her own line - her mother Grace, her grandmother (name I currently can't think of), and then her own given name was Constance. Da-da-daaaaaa... dramatic! And how especially undiscerning she was when it came to realizing the intentions of her creepy-to-the-point-of-stalker-and-abusive advisor. The flashbacks to the late 1600's were probably better for me. Except for when the language was written phonetically and I found it difficult to decipher.

I did like that the author didn't grab on to the idea that all the women put to death were innocent; instead, she allowed that some may actually have been "witches".

Maybe I was just too tired trying to get through this book this week. I just have a basic feeling of annoyance with this book. Another example is when the characters would launch into these discussions like they were reading their dissertations. I understand that the author's intent is to educate on the time period or a certain topic while bringing the storyline along, but ugh. So dry. I was already having a hard time getting through the book.

In the end, I have to say it was just okay. I am a bit disappointed. I think it had great potential, but it didn't quite get there for me.