Hour of the Witch: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries)
A sensational divorce trial in 17th-century Boston becomes a deadly witch hunt in Chris Bohjalian’s HOUR OF THE WITCH. Puritan Mary Deefield—faithful, resourceful, but afraid of the demons that dog her soul—plots her escape from a violent marriage in this timely and terrifying story of socially sanctioned brutality and the original American witch hunt, a thrilling New York Times bestseller from the author of The Flight Attendant.
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Community Reviews
Hour of the Witch a tour de force work of historical fiction -- an engrossing study of domestic abuse, divorce, societal pressures, and witchcraft, as well as a captivating legal thriller, with a final twist that is inventive, surprising, and extremely satisfying.
Author Chris Bohjalian masterfully sets the scene, convincingly recreating and transporting readers to 1662 Boston. The city's population is exploding as ships arrive from all over the w...read more
Author Chris Bohjalian masterfully sets the scene, convincingly recreating and transporting readers to 1662 Boston. The city's population is exploding as ships arrive from all over the w...read more
We know that early English settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were very religious and thought a lot about the state of their souls and the devil. The historical record tells us so. According to Chris Bohjalian, they were concerned about the devil a lot. A good chunk of the first third or so of the book has them thinking about little else.
Things start to get more interesting when Mary Deerfield sues her husband for divorce on the grounds ...read more
Things start to get more interesting when Mary Deerfield sues her husband for divorce on the grounds ...read more
I was going to rate it four stars but that ending got me. Five stars for this one!
TW: rape, domestic abuse, miscarriage
TW: rape, domestic abuse, miscarriage
This wasn't my normal genre but I honestly was surprised how much I liked this book. It was recommended to me by a librarian at the Innisfree bookstore and I'm fascinated by the Salem witch trials and that time period so I thought why not.
This book had a great story, sad, but nonetheless interesting. I thought Mary's character was written perfectly. Her internal dialogue going back and forth between knowing her relationship was wrong yet societ...read more
http://wistfulescapism.com/2021/11/18/book-review-hour-of-the-witch
When I first ordered my copy of Hour Of The Witch, my initial intentions were to find a "thriller" read with a magical plot involving a witch, an October treat. But to my welcoming surprise, as I started reading, it was clear that this wasn't a thriller, at least not in the sense of being scared; while there weren't any magical witches casting spells, no ghosts and goblins poppin...read more
When I first ordered my copy of Hour Of The Witch, my initial intentions were to find a "thriller" read with a magical plot involving a witch, an October treat. But to my welcoming surprise, as I started reading, it was clear that this wasn't a thriller, at least not in the sense of being scared; while there weren't any magical witches casting spells, no ghosts and goblins poppin...read more
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