



Hour of the Witch
A Novel
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4.3 • 424 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • 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.
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
Democratic party rising star Abrams (Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America) is more Brad Meltzer than Scott Turow in her debut legal thriller. Avery Keene, a law clerk to Supreme Court justice Howard Wynn, is stunned to learn that her boss is in a coma, and that he has named Avery his legal guardian. With Wynn the potential swing vote in a number of key cases, his medical condition has major implications, and Avery's status is contested by the judge's estranged second wife, who vows to turn off life support if Avery is granted this authority, which includes power of attorney. When Avery seeks out Wynn's nurse, who left a cryptic message on her voicemail in accord with the jurist's instructions, she finds the woman murdered. More deaths follow as Abrams pulls back the curtain gradually to reveal evil machinations in the highest corridors of power, and the action builds to an over-the-top denouement at the Supreme Court. Fans of the TV drama Scandal may feel at home, but Abrams's many political supporters may be disappointed that she didn't choose to ground her plot in real-life issues.
Customer Reviews
Spellbinding
Impossible to put down- so well written!
Loved it!
Such a great book! I couldn’t put it down.
Recently Purchased the Paperback
Very good story. Has you guessing until the very last page. A satisfying ending that leaves you breathless. You will not soon forget Mary Deerfield!!