Enjoyed, even though I wasn’t crazy about the main character. Seems to be yet another mystery that is responding to the me to movement. The setting was interesting, though I felt much of what happened particularly in the latter part of the novel was very unlikely for the time ( )

Could have been much shorter. It took til half way through to get going, and it REALLY took its time explaining itself. ( )

Compelling historical fiction set in 17th Century Boston about an intelligent woman who dared to challenge the Puritan patriarchy by asking for a divorce from her brutally abusive husband and was ultimately condemned to hang for witchcraft. That bare outline does not do justice to the rich historical details Chris Bohjalian used to fill in the contours of Mary Deerfield’s tortured married life, neither whitewashing her own impure and sinful thoughts nor rendering her as a saint, but exposing her as a woman we would recognize as suffering from battered woman syndrome.

At a time when we in the United States, as a society, are grappling with exposing the power structure built into the foundations of our political, economic, and cultural institutions, this story reminds us how the power was wielded especially over women, or others deemed unworthy, like the Quakers in this novel. Educated women like Mary and her friend Constance were especially suspect and sometimes all it took was a suggestion by one person, who perhaps had a grudge, to bend the lens through which many others in a community view sometimes perfectly ordinary acts. I might have given five stars but for several areas that seemed implausible, or at least a stretch, to me. ( )

Takes place in the 1660?s. A story of woman who files for divorce from her much older husband for cruelty. She is denied this and must go back to her husband, but decides she must plot a way to get rid of him. She plans on poisoning him, but is unable to at the last minute. She is then accused of being a witch and finds herself guilty .She is due to be hanged the next day. when she finds before her friends that have come to save her by putting on a cargo ship bound for Jamaica. Before her friend can get her to the ship, they are confronted by her abusive spouse and a friend both drunk from an evening at a bar. A tussle ensues and she kills her husband with a sword and her friend kills the other gentleman by slashing his throat. Next thing we know she is in Jamaica with the man she has fallen in love with. No one in Boston knows what happened and all parties involved go on with their lives. Kirkus: A Puritan wife shocks her community and risks her life to file for divorce in 1662 Boston.For more than five years, Mary, age 24, has been married to Thomas, 45, a prosperous miller. Thomas has been physically and sexually abusive, always taking care that there are no witnesses. He castigates Mary?s intelligence, telling her she has ?white meat? for brains. The marriage is childless, drawing community suspicion to Mary. When she can?t hide bruises on her face, she lies about their provenance. The behavior, she tells herself, only occurs when Thomas is ?drink-drunk.? The coverup continues until, cold sober, Thomas drives a fork into Mary?s hand, breaking bones. She flees to her parents? home and files for divorce, which is allowed but only if grounds can be proven. Forks are a major motif: Not merely newfangled ?cutlery? which Mary?s father, a shipping entrepreneur, hopes to profit from importing, but miniature pitchforks viewed by the Puritans as ?Devil?s tines.? The forks, as well as other clues�a mysterious pestle, a pentagram etched on a door frame¥are used to counter Mary?s compelling, but unwitnessed, claims of cruelty with insinuations of witchcraft. Divorce denied, Mary must return to the marital home and resort to ever more drastic expedients in her quest for freedom. Mary comes from privilege, and her parents clearly care about her. (Unlike the divorce magistrates, they don?t believe she injured her hand by falling on a tea kettle spout.) That they allow her return to Thomas to avoid witchcraft charges defies plausibility¥death at Thomas? hands seems a more immediate prospect, and her family wealth affords many other options. The charges come anyway¥timed for maximum melodrama. The language, salted liberally with thee and thou, feels period-authentic. The colonists? impact on nearby Native tribes is not Bohjalian?s primary concern here, but the Hobson?s choice facing women in Puritan society is starkly delineated.Illustrates how rough justice can get when religion and institutional sexism are in the mix.

(2021) One of the best books I have read is a long time. Set in the mid 1600s in Boston, Mary is married to a cruel and abusive husband. She tries to be a good Christian wife until he stabs her in the hand with a fork (or Devil's tines). She sues for divorce, which is rare but does happen in the time but in the male dominated society is eventually denied her claim. This is the premise of the first half of the book. The second half sees her trying to get revenge, even to the point of murder of her husband, Thomas. She goes right to the brink, but can't do it. At this point witchcraft (they are near Salem afterall) enters the picture more and more as neighbors and others see her actions as being in league with the devil. She is eventually jailed and tried on that count. Facing a hanging, she is broken out of jail by her daughter-in-law who was also abused by Thomas, her father. The intent is to get Mary on a boat to Jamaica, but they encounter Thomas and a friend in the streets which leads to Thomas and the friend being murdered by the two women. Mary makes it to Jamaica where she is joined by Henry, a Boston man she has fallen in love with. Kirkus: A Puritan wife shocks her community and risks her life to file for divorce in 1662 Boston.For more than five years, Mary, age 24, has been married to Thomas, 45, a prosperous miller. Thomas has been physically and sexually abusive, always taking care that there are no witnesses. He castigates Mary's intelligence, telling her she has ?white meat? for brains. The marriage is childless, drawing community suspicion to Mary. When she can't hide bruises on her face, she lies about their provenance. The behavior, she tells herself, only occurs when Thomas is ?drink-drunk.? The coverup continues until, cold sober, Thomas drives a fork into Mary's hand, breaking bones. She flees to her parents' home and files for divorce, which is allowed but only if grounds can be proven. Forks are a major motif: Not merely newfangled ?cutlery? which Mary's father, a shipping entrepreneur, hopes to profit from importing, but miniature pitchforks viewed by the Puritans as ?Devil's tines.? The forks, as well as other clues�a mysterious pestle, a pentagram etched on a door frame¥are used to counter Mary's compelling, but unwitnessed, claims of cruelty with insinuations of witchcraft. Divorce denied, Mary must return to the marital home and resort to ever more drastic expedients in her quest for freedom. Mary comes from privilege, and her parents clearly care about her. (Unlike the divorce magistrates, they don't believe she injured her hand by falling on a tea kettle spout.) That they allow her return to Thomas to avoid witchcraft charges defies plausibility¥death at Thomas' hands seems a more immediate prospect, and her family wealth affords many other options. The charges come anyway¥timed for maximum melodrama. The language, salted liberally with thee and thou, feels period-authentic. The colonists' impact on nearby Native tribes is not Bohjalian's primary concern here, but the Hobson's choice facing women in Puritan society is starkly delineated.Illustrates how rough justice can get when religion and institutional sexism are in the mix.Pub Date: April 20, 2021ISBN: 978-0-385-54243-2Page Count: 416Publisher: DoubledayReview Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2020Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021