The Physick Book of Deliveranc
June 2009 -- "Have you not considered the distinct possibility that the accused were simply guilty
of witchcraft?"
Connie Godwin thinks her academic advisor is teasing her: she has mastered the scholarship surrounding the Salem witch trials of 1692 and knows the question he poses is preposterous. She never suspects that answering it will alter everything she knows about the past, her family, and the professor himself. Interweaving two narratives, one set in 1991 and one set three centuries earlier, Katherine Howe's debut novel is a marvel of invention
and historical reconstruction. The author employs her training as an historian to vividly depict the realities of 17th-century Salem, dramatizing the plight of the unfortunate victims as they fall prey to the mania of their accusers. But it is the leap of imagination by which she connects Connie to that distant past that turns The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane into a bewitching reading
experience.
Sent by her mother to prepare her long-deceased grandmother's home for sale, Connie finds a decrepit dwelling filled with venerable oddities, including a collection of ancient bottles filled with peculiar liquids and powders. On her first night there, Connie chances on a crumbling bit of paper, bearing the words "Deliverance Dane," that has been carefully hidden inside a key tucked between the pages of a 300-year-old family Bible. Combing the local church registry for traces of this mysterious name, Connie strikes up an acquaintance with Sam, a steeplejack engaged in the church's preservation. Together they piece together Deliverance's tragic story and learn of her precious book of spells and recipes for healing potions. When a series of sinister events threaten Sam's life, Connie's search for the book is transformed from scholarly pursuit to a matter of life and death-and love.
- Discussion questions for your reading group
- Our downloadable reader's guide (pdf)
- Watch our exclusive interview with Katherine Howe on B&N Tagged!
- See our discussion on The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane in the First Look Book Club
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I've never read a book that moved me the way The Book Thief did. Narrated by Death, it tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl who spends her childhood living with a foster family in Germany during World War II. Naturally, a book with that setting has its fair share of tragedy, and though this one does have one of the saddest endings I've ever seen, at the same time, it is also one of the most uplifting books I've ever read. The characters are what makes this book so special; each one has traits that are likeable and detestable. They are among the most human characters that I've ever seen, and I came to care about what happened to each and every one of them. By the time I reached the climax of the book, I was so emotionally invested in the characters, that I couldn't keep from crying, and yet I still can't think of a book that I've read recently that I enjoyed more than this one.
This is a wonderful book. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Dreaming Anastasia is a Russian folktale come to life...
Whatever happened to Anastasia Romanov? It is a mystery that has haunted the world since that horrific day when the rest of her family was murdered in cold blood. Did Anastasia survive? In this magical tale, Joy Preble weaves the mystery of Anastasia into the modern day.
Anne Michaelson is dreaming she is someone else. Someone who is trapped in a cottage in the woods with her Auntie Yaga, a witch with iron teeth and the will to keep her prisoner until the end of time. She dreams of a basement filled with blood and giant witch hands carrying her off into the Russian woods.
Anne notices she is being followed by a boy with piercing blue eyes, and so the adventure begins. The dreams become more and more involved, and soon the witch Baba Yaga is after her for real. The blue eyed boy, Ethan, is linked to her by fate and together they must work to solve the mystery of Anastasia's disappearance before it is too late.
This is a great read for anyone who loves a bit of history in their novels. Joy Preble keeps the pace going and hooks the reader from the very first page. I could not put it down.
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
Robert Graves's I, Claudius has everything I want in a novel: emperors, murder, sex, palace intrigue, murder, wars, prophecies, messiahs, and even more murder. Written as if it is the autobiography of Claudius, the fourth Roman Emperor, I, Claudius covers the history of Rome from the reign of Augustus to the beginning of the reign of Claudius, drawing heavily from Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars. Although Graves takes some liberties with his source material, he puts it to good use fleshing out characters who have been dead for nearly 2000 years. Of particular interest are Claudius, who for most of his life is known as a lame fool with a stammer, but turns out to be exceptionally intelligent, and his grandmother Livia, a driven woman who maneuvers her way into great power, using whatever means are necessary.
I fell in love with I, Claudius as a teenager interested in Roman history. I saw it not just as great historical fiction, but as a great book, regardless of genre. Its style can be dry at times, but the story and the characters are so interesting that it makes up for it.
If you like the book, also be sure to check out the excellent BBC miniseries I, Claudius, which covers the events of both this book and its sequel Claudius the God. It was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time. I would recommend reading the book first since Derek Jacobi's is so good that you won't be able to read Claudius again without hearing his voice.
Prayers for Sale
Eighty-six-year-old Hennie has lived in Middle Swan, a gold-mining town in the Rockies, since before Colorado was a state. Nit has recently arrived in town with her husband and her grief, reminding Hennie of her own youthful hopes and sorrows. Finding common ground in their Southern heritage and a love of quilting, an unlikely friendship blossoms as Hennie captivates Nit with vivid memories that reach back to the mid-1800s.
"There's something about stitching together," Hennie confides, "that draws a woman out."
As they sew, Hennie recounts her childhood in Tennessee and her tragic marriage to her sweetheart Billy, soon to be lost to the Civil War. She relives the death of their only child and her journey, by wagon train, across the country to start life anew with a man she'd never met. She recalls the unexpected blessing she discovered upon her arrival in Middle Swan and describes the lively cast of gamblers and moonshiners, quilters and "soiled doves" she has come to know. Summoning the feelings, dreams, and satisfactions of Hennie's years of experience as a woman, mother, and wife, these stirring yarns serve as a healing balm for the lonely, anxious Nit-and help her piece together a new beginning for her own family.
Just as Hennie's tales weave a many-hued cloak of mountain wisdom for the benefit of her young friend, so Sandra Dallas creates for us-through a deft blend of historical detail, authentic voices, quilting lore, and, last but not least, emotional truths-a vibrant quilt of heartbreaking incident and heartwarming compassion.
If you liked The Time Traveler's Wife, try Kindred.
Right before I started reading The Time Traveler's Wife, I read Octavia Butler's Kindred. It was a strange transition to make since they both deal with involuntary time travel, but it was easy to appreciate both books. In Kindred, Dana, a modern, African-American woman is pulled back in time to a plantation in the early 1800s. There, she saves the life of Rufus, a young, white, slave-holding boy, whom she later discovers is one of her ancestors. Dana is then pulled back in time again and again in order to help save Rufus's life, their relationship growing both closer and more contentious as time goes on.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife, I felt that Butler did a better job than Niffenegger at examining the potential ramifications of time travel. For example, would you save a person if you knew that he was going to end up raping a woman, but if you also knew that that act would lead to your own birth? Butler manages to deal expertly with that issue and others, such as slavery. This was one of the most thought-provoking novels I've ever read.
Octavia Butler was a terrific story-teller, and if you haven't read any of her books yet, this would be a good place to start.
The Tin Drum
To mark the 50th anniversary of The Tin Drum, a new translation of Nobel Prize Winner Gunter Grass's masterpiece has been released. Featuring one of literature's most unforgettable characters, Oskar Matzerath, The Tin Drum effectively examines the German psyche during and after World War II. It shows the brutality of the Nazis and the absurdity of war through the eyes of a boy who refuses to grow out of childhood. Even after fifty years, it remains just as poignant and relevant today as it was when it was first published.
The Tin Drum has rightly earned its place in the pantheon of great books. If you appreciate excellent world literature, but haven't had the chance to read this yet, take the opportunity that this new translation presents to you to introduce yourself to it. It is a book that will challenge you, but it is worth it.
Company of Liars
For fans of Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, and Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, Company of Liars is a book you should pick up right now! It takes place in England during the Plague year of 1348 and follows a group of pilgrims desperately trying to get away from the spread of the plague. The story is narrated by Camelot, a disfigured person who sells relics along the road and at town fairs. Each character has a secret, and as the novel progresses, secrets are revealed and the tension builds towards a surprise conclusion. The author writes an amazing novel, and puts you firmly on the road with the pilgrims, feeling each cold night, laying outside in a miserably drenching rain. You feel the hunger, pain, and anxiety of the characters as each looks at the other with growing suspicion. It really is a great story with memorable characters--Narigorm, the just plain creepy albino girl who throws runes; Cygnet, the one-armed storyteller, and Pleasance, the herbalist. Just when you think you've got it figured out, there's a twist. Highly recommended!
The Thirteenth Tale
Only five short chapters into Setterfield’s deft, enthralling narrative, her readers too have been transported: they’ve inhaled the dusty scent of Lea’s Antiquarian Bookshop, shared the sense of adventurous comfort Margaret absorbs from her late-night reading, and been seduced by the glamorous enigma of Vida Winter. Yet The Thirteenth Tale has just begun. Commissioned by Miss Winter to compose her unvarnished biography, Margaret is soon swept up in the tragic history she must unravel—a story stranger and more haunting than any the celebrated author has ever penned, encompassing a grand house, a beautiful yet doomed family, passion, madness, ghosts, and a secret that holds readers spellbound until the very end. Richly atmospheric and deeply satisfying, Setterfield’s debut revives in all their glory the traditions of gothic and romantic suspense exemplified by the works of Wilkie Collins, the Brontës, and Daphne du Maurier. Old-fashioned in the best sense, it’s an urgently readable novel that’s nearly impossible to put down.
Jane Austen meets zombie bedlam. What a concept!
Being an ardent Jane Austen enthusiast, I was nonplussed when the news hit the Internet about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, combining Jane Austen's classic novel with bone-crunching zombie mayhem! What? Did two genre's ever seem more incompatible? Even though it did not appeal to my genteel sensibilities, I was intrigued and thought it worth a look. The co-author Seth Grahame-Smith had taken about 85% of Austen's original text and interwoven a zombie subplot. I have to admit that the first line had me smiling. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." What follows is quite a surprise. He has changed feisty Elizabeth Bennet and the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy into ninja warriors, ready to spar in the ball room as well as the battlefield against the sorry stricken who they delicately call unmentionables. It appears that anyone who is not a ninja warrior is a target for zombie destruction, so if there is a character from the original plot ripe for reproach, then it is sure to happen. Brains and gore abound, so the delicately minded take heed. If you enjoy a good ribald parody, the play between the original text and the new storyline is hysterical. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is sure to please those who live to make sport for their neighbors, and laugh at them in their turn! Read my complete review at my literary blog Austenprose.
Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose
Garden Spells
The women of the Waverley family—whether they like it or not—are heirs to an unusual legacy, one that grows in a fenced plot behind their Queen Anne home on Pendland Street in Bascom, North Carolina. There, an apple tree bearing fruit of magical properties looms over a garden filled with herbs and edible flowers that possess the power to affect in curious ways anyone who eats them.
For nearly a decade, 34-year-old Claire Waverley, at peace with her family inheritance, has lived in the house alone, embracing the spirit of the grandmother who raised her, ruing her mother's unfortunate destiny and seemingly unconcerned about the fate of her rebellious sister, Sydney, who freed herself long ago from their small town's constraints. Using her grandmother's mystical culinary traditions, Claire has built a successful catering business—and a carefully controlled, utterly predictable life—upon the family's peculiar gift for making life-altering delicacies: lilac jelly to engender humility, for instance, or rose geranium wine to call up fond memories. Garden Spells reveals what happens when Sydney returns to Bascom with her young daughter, turning Claire's routine existence upside down. With Sydney's homecoming, the magic that the quiet caterer has measured into recipes to shape the thoughts and moods of others begins to influence Claire's own emotions in terrifying and delightful ways.
As the sisters reconnect and learn to support one another, each finds romance where she least expects it, while Sydney's child, Bay, discovers both the safe home she has longed for and her own surprising gifts. With the help of their elderly cousin Evanelle, endowed with her own uncanny skills, the Waverley women redeem the past, embrace the present, and take a joyful leap into the future.
Romance in the Turn of the Century New York, Intrigue and Scandal Abound
I have this horrible tendency to read the first book in a series and then stop before the next one, not because I don't like it but because I find something else to read. It's the whole "attracted to shiny objects" characteristic translated to my book list. But after staring at The Luxe for weeks after it came out, mesmorized by that humongus gown on the front cover, I finally picked it up.
I loved every moment of it. Right off the bat, we have scandal and intrigue: the mysterious death of a young Manhattan socialite. But the intrigue doesn't stop there. Godbersen does a great job of creating characters that practically live and breathe alongside us. It doesn't matter that the setting is so removed from us (1900s New York City) because the crises and interests of her heroines and heros are the same as today. We love, we lust, to want what we can't have, and we do whatever is necessary to get it.
As a quick aside, I realized after finishing the first book in the series that it appeals to me because my favorite "classic" author is Edith Wharton. Wharton penned The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and, my personal all-time favorite, The House of Mirth. It's clear that Godbersen is influenced by and respects Wharton as well. The time period is similar, the society in which the characters live, and their class problems and struggles all originally stream from Wharton's pen.
I hope that any teen who enjoys this series might look to Wharton for more.
I dare you to try and put this one down after reading the first five pages
I read this book when it first came out and it is still one of my favorite books to recommend. I read it at least twice a year, it is that good.
In the beginning you are introduced to a nun who is very old and dying. The nun has asked the Mother Superior to be buried in her habit and since she has been in the convent for so long her wish is granted. The nun dies, but there is news at the convent that the plague has struck and they need to be sure that this woman didn't die from the plague. When they remove her habit they are shocked to fins a giant tattoo of a snake that starts on her back, trails down the front of her body and ends at her crotch. The snake does not have a normal snake head, instead it is the head of a man.
Set in Renaissance Italy, this book follows a young woman from her teens until her death. Every page will captivate you. You will love and hate the characters. Dunant is someone I consider to be a master in writing historical fiction.
Child 44
A decorated war hero driven by dedication to his country and faith in the superiority of Communist ideals, Leo Demidov has built a successful career in the Soviet security network, suppressing ideological crimes and threats against the state with unquestioning efficiency. When a fellow officer's son is killed, Leo is ordered to stop the family from spreading the notion that their child was murdered. For in the official version of Stalin's worker's paradise, such a senseless crime is impossible — an affront to the Revolution. But Leo knows better: a murderer is at large, cruelly targeting children, and the collective power of the Soviet government is denying his existence.
Leo's doubt sets in motion a chain of events that changes his understanding of everything he had previously believed. Smith's deftly crafted plot delivers twist after chilling twist, as it lays bare the deceit of the regime that enveloped an impoverished people in paranoia. In a shocking effort to test Leo's loyalty, his wife, Raisa, is accused of being a spy. Leo's refusal to denounce her costs him his rank, and the couple is banished from Moscow. Humiliated, renounced by his enemies, and deserted by everyone save Raisa, Leo realizes that his redemption rests on finding the vicious serial killer who is eviscerating innocent children and leaving them to die in the bleak Russian woods.
The narrative unfolds at a breathless pace, exposing the culture of fear that turns friends into foes and forces families to hide devastating secrets. As Leo and Raisa close in on the serial killer, desperately trying to stay a step ahead of the government's relentless operatives, the reader races with them through a web of intrigue to the novel's heart-stopping conclusion.
A gentle nod to Pride and Prejudice
When fifteen year old heroine Callie Montgomery purchases a pair of red Prada pumps with sky-high heels she thinks her life will change from high school geek to A-list fashionista in one smooth step. She's out to impress her savvy classmates while traveling on a school trip in London. Not only is Callie socially awkward, she is an admitted klutz. It only takes her three steps out of the Prada shop in her new shoes to trip and hit her head waking up in 1815 Regency England. Her twenty-first century manners rub up against early nineteenth century propriety, especially with the arrogant but dishy Duke of Harksbury. He thinks she is outspoken and ill-mannered; she thinks if he wasn't such a complete jerk, he'd be a great catch. Sound familiar? Classics readers will no doubt see the similarities to Jane Austen's famous romantic couple Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice and smile.
Light, bright, and sparkly, Prada and Prejudice is this high-concept time travel fantasy that has made a grand entrance into the emerging Young Adult fiction genre. In her debut novel, Mandy Hubbard has given us an endearingly angst ridden heroine struggling to find herself in a teenage world flooded with designer clothes and confusing priorities. Her adventure in the past not only influences others sensibilities, but like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, she comes to realize that her red shoes are not her ticket to happiness. It was there all along, waiting to be discovered in herself. I recommend it highly for young adult readers (and those young at heart) who are in need of a quick escape, and a hearty laugh.
Laurel Ann, Austenprose
The Séance
“If my sister Alma had lived, I should never have begun the séances.” Constance Langton was only five when her life changed irrevocably. With the death of her younger sibling, the Langton household descended into a deep melancholy. To relieve her mother’s sorrow, Constance resorts to a common Victorian nostrum: spiritualism. That decision leads to more tragedy, plunging the young woman into a borderline world where apparitions, possession, and murder hover in the air. This evocative tale by the International Horror Guild Award-winning author of The Ghost Writer is a perfect fit for readers of G.R. James and Wilkie Collins.
Farthing by Jo Walton
What if a group of influential politicians in Britain managed to broker a peace with Nazi Germany early in 1941, avoiding years of bloody war, but also allowing Hitler to remain in power with a sympathetic government in place in London? This is precisely the situation the world is in at the beginning of Farthing when one of the architects of that peace is found murdered at the Farthing estate, with a Star of David stabbed into his chest. Told from the points of view of Lucy Kahn, the daughter of one of the members of the Farthing Set who married a Jewish man, and Inspector Carmichael, the Scotland Yard detective sent to investigate the murder, what follows is a taut mystery, full of political intrigue. Jo Walton manages to deliver a terrific story that combines the best elements of alternate history with a classic country house mystery.
Followed by two sequels: Ha'penny and Half a Crown.
A Reliable Wife
Ralph Truit wanted a wife, a reliable wife. Stubbornly averse to frills or compromises, this successful businessman did what came naturally: He placed a small advertisement in a Chicago newspaper. Catherine Land, the woman who answered his classified ad, had an equally simple, though certainly more devious plan: She would marry Truit and eventually kill him. In Robert Goolrick’s first novel, set in the early 20th century Midwest, both these plans come awry in the course of quite human events. This subtle, passionate psychological novel snares and keeps your interest because its characters and our feelings about them change before our eyes. Readers will never forget what happens to the mail-order mates during their first harsh Wisconsin winter together.
The Women
In this dazzling historical novel, master architect Frank Lloyd Wright comes alive through the words of four women he loved. Their voices are radically dissimilar: Montenegrin ballerina Olgivanna Milanoff; tempestuous Southern belle Maud Miriam Noel; his free-spirited, tragically fated mistress Mamah Cheney; and Kitty Tobin, his artist first wife. In The Women, adventurous novelist T.C. Boyle (The Road to Wellville; The Inner Circle) exposes Wright’s deep-seeded resistance to convention in every arena of his life.
The Last Dickens: A Novel
Matthew Pearl loves the lives and works of great writers, but he doesn't stop there. While others wait for the next major biography, he conjures up enthralling historical thrillers about legendary authors. his debut novel The Dante Club, he drafted Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and other New England literati to be impromptu sleuths investigating a series of unsolved murders in Boston and Cambridge. In The Poe Shadow, he has readers following a young Baltimore lawyer as he uncovers the real truth behind the mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe. Pearl's first two novels were original spellbinders, but his latest is his most engaging yet. The Last Dickens propels us on a double quest: On one hand, we (and the protagonist) are racing to solve a series of homicides on both sides of the Atlantic; on the other, we're delving into the conundrums of "the last Dickens," Charles Dickens' unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood. A good book to recommend this fiction to anyone who likes mysteries or Dickens or, better yet, both.
