Book #101 |
Book: The First Witch of Boston | Author: Andrea Catalano | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 326 | Duration: 10/30/25 – 11/01/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: historical fiction, witches, romance, witchcraft | ||
| 📕10-word summary: An outspoken healer is accused, convicted of being a witch. 🖌6-word review: Fictional-but-believable account of the time’s hysteria. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “He doubted that the Widow Hallett had ever lifted anything heavier than her skirts.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: poultice, pillories, mithridates, umbilicus, doublet, poppets, quim, physic, milksop, imperious, doxy, capotain, petitgrain, Beltane, maleficium, bodkin | |||
| Description:* Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1646. Thomas and Margaret Jones arrive from England to build a life in the New World. Though of differing temperaments, cautious Thomas and fiery Margaret, a healer, are bound by a love that has lasted decades. With a child on the way, their new beginning promises only blessings. But in this austere Puritan community, comely faces hide malicious intent. Wrong moves or words are met with suspicion, and Margaret’s bold and unguarded nature draws scorn. Soon, Margaret is mistrusted as more cunning woman than kind caregiver. And when personal tragedies, religious hysteria, and wariness of the unknown turn most against her, even the devotion Margaret and her husband share is at risk.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: Being from Massachusetts, I find its witch-hunting history an interesting topic, although I’m not fascinated or obsessed with it by any means. Many of the reviewers who didn’t like this book cited “gratuitous” and “explicit” sexual details as a reason, which I didn’t find to be the case. Others complained that it wasn’t “historically accurate,” which I didn’t mind — as it’s called historical fiction for a reason. And yet others complained that both its title and its prologue were “spoilers.” Well, there are plenty of books that start off with an incident, and then go back and tell you how it happened, which was the case here and wasn’t at all a deterrent to my reading. I liked how outspoken the protagonist was and thought the author did a good job showing how the word and actions of women during that time of hysteria were misinterpreted and misrepresented. Also, I’m a fan of epistolary elements in novels. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
