The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (Jill)
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
By Katherine Howe
Completed OCtober 6, 2009
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe examined an alternate view of witchcraft in colonial New England. The story was based on “cunning women,” who used magic, herbs and prayer to heal people. While an interesting premise, this story didn’t fit together as well as it should.
The main character of the book is Connie Goodwin, a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard, who agreed to help her mother with the cleaning of their family home in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Always looking for research ideas, Connie stumbled upon a key and a name – Deliverance Dane – that piqued her interest. Through her research, she discovered that Deliverance was executed during the Salem Witch Trials, but there was no record of her. Additionally, Deliverance had bequeathed a recipe book to her daughter, which could be a valuable primary source for Connie’s dissertation. And so the search for the book began.
I enjoyed Connie’s historical research – her methodology, approach and goals. I too have a graduate degree in history, and Howe accurately described the research process, graduate school and demanding professors. However, I felt most of the novel was predictable, forced and somewhat contrived. I rolled my eyes at the evil mentor (Dan Brown already did that); the coincidental meeting of a handsome preservation expert who became Connie’s love interest; the young heroine alone in a creepy house. Does all of this sound familiar? It should – and Howe didn’t do much to innovate these old themes.
Overall, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane was beneficial because of its historical study of colonial women and witchcraft. It’s a shame that the rest of the story fell flat for me. ( 
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