Hour of the Witch
A Novel
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4.3 • 715 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the acclaimed author of The Flight Attendant: “Historical fiction at its best…. The book is a thriller in structure, and a real page-turner, the ending both unexpected and satisfying” (Diana Gabaldon, bestselling author of the Outlander series, The Washington Post).
A young Puritan woman—faithful, resourceful, but afraid of the demons that dog her soul—plots her escape from a violent marriage in this riveting and propulsive novel of historical suspense.
Boston, 1662. Mary Deerfield is twenty-four-years-old. Her skin is porcelain, her eyes delft blue, and in England she might have had many suitors. But here in the New World, amid this community of saints, Mary is the second wife of Thomas Deerfield, a man as cruel as he is powerful. When Thomas, prone to drunken rage, drives a three-tined fork into the back of Mary's hand, she resolves that she must divorce him to save her life.
But in a world where every neighbor is watching for signs of the devil, a woman like Mary—a woman who harbors secret desires and finds it difficult to tolerate the brazen hypocrisy of so many men in the colony—soon becomes herself the object of suspicion and rumor. When tainted objects are discovered buried in Mary's garden, when a boy she has treated with herbs and simples dies, and when their servant girl runs screaming in fright from her home, Mary must fight to not only escape her marriage, but also the gallows.
A twisting, tightly plotted novel of historical suspense from one of our greatest storytellers, Hour of the Witch is a timely and terrifying story of socially sanctioned brutality and the original American witch hunt.
Look for Chris Bohjalian's new novel, The Lioness!
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Come for Chris Bohjalian’s rich and engrossing historical fiction; stay for the edge-of-your-seat suspense. It’s 1662 Boston, and Mary Deerfield wants to divorce her abusive husband. But that’s no easy task. She not only bumps up against patriarchal Puritan values but has to defend herself against actual charges of witchcraft—which were no joke in 17th-century New England! From the cutlery to the clothing, Bohjalian uses meticulous period details to create a real and transporting vibe. Even more impressively, he really gets us into his characters’ heads, giving us a clear sense of the way this 1600s community thought and spoke through his incredible, poetic dialogue. With Mary’s life on the line, Hour of the Witch is both a nail-biting thriller and a chilling reminder that the struggles of the #MeToo era have roots that reach back centuries.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mary Deerfield, the indomitable, 24-year-old protagonist of this twisty thriller set in 17th-century Boston from bestseller Bohjalian (The Red Lotus), has been married for five years to Thomas, a well-to-do widower almost twice her age, whose abusiveness has escalated with her failure to become pregnant. In bed with her brutish, frequently drunk husband, Mary fantasizes about how different life might be with someone like seductive bachelor Henry Simmons, whom she meets when he pulls her out of the way of an oxcart that threatens to run her down. Gossip soon grows about the pair, at the same time Mary discovers items buried in her garden associated with witchcraft. Then Thomas's most violent assault yet propels Mary to petition for divorce, a step she knows will bring dangerous scrutiny from a populace primed to spy the devil's hand everywhere. Chapter-prefacing snippets from testimony at Mary's future court appearances fan suspense, but also make her painful journey there seem at times excruciatingly slow. With its exploration of themes including domestic abuse, toxic masculinity, and mass hysteria, the novel feels like anything but a period piece. Bohjalian fans and newcomers alike will be satisfied.
Customer Reviews
Hour of the Witch
An amazing novel about the pervasiveness of superstition in the Boston colony in the 1600s around witchcraft. The degree to which people believed in utterly stupid signs of consorting with the devil were jaw dropping. Hard to believe that sentient beings could be so brainwashed.
Interesting characters and easy to read.
Twists at the end are worth it!
Hour of the Witch
I really liked this book. I felt that I learned a lot about life in America in the late 1600’s.
Happy Reading!