The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs
A Novel
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- USD 14.99
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- USD 14.99
Descripción editorial
A magical bloodline. A family curse. Can Connie break the spell before it shatters her future?
A bewitching novel of a New England history professor who must race against time to free her family from a curse, by Katherine Howe, New York Times bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.
Connie Goodwin is an expert on America’s fractured past with witchcraft. A young, tenure-track professor in Boston, she’s earned career success by studying the history of magic in colonial America—especially women’s home recipes and medicines—and by exposing society's threats against women fluent in those skills. But beyond her studies, Connie harbors a secret: She is the direct descendant of a woman tried as a witch in Salem, an ancestor whose abilities were far more magical than the historical record shows.
When a hint from her mother and clues from her research lead Connie to the shocking realization that her partner’s life is in danger, she must race to solve the mystery behind a hundreds’-years-long deadly curse.
Flashing back through American history to the lives of certain supernaturally gifted women, The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs affectingly reveals not only the special bond that unites one particular matriarchal line, but also explores the many challenges to women’s survival across the decades—and the risks some women are forced to take to protect what they love most.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this slow-moving follow-up to her bestselling The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, Howe continues the tale of Connie Goodwin, a descendant of a Salem witch. The story is told through alternating timelines, one in Massachusetts in 2000, the other stretching from 1661 in England to 1816 Massachusetts. In 2000, 34-year old Connie is an assistant history professor at Northeastern University finishing a book on the history of witchcraft and putting together her tenure application. Once that's accomplished, she plans to marry her longtime boyfriend, Sam Hartley. Shocked by her unplanned pregnancy, Connie's startled when her mother, Grace, advises her to break up with Sam. It's the only way to protect his life, Grace reminds Connie the husbands in their family die young. Both women believe it's a family curse connected to their female ancestors' magical proclivities. But Connie decides to find a witchcraft recipe that will save Sam's life. A mysterious key and a portrait of relative Temperance Hobbs whose husband, Obadiah, lived to a ripe old age may provide Connie with the answers she seeks. The earlier timeline traces the lives of Connie's female forebears, including Deliverance Dane, who was accused of witchcraft at the Salem witch trials. The story lacks tension, however, and the witchcraft angle doesn't do much to elevate it. Fans of the first book might enjoy catching up with Connie, but those encountering her for the first time won't find themselves bewitched.
