For those looking for an engaging read for the month of Halloween, New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian’s Hour of the Witch is a thriller set in 1660s Boston and centered on a Puritan community.
While it seems unlikely that this setting would lend itself to a courtroom drama, this story of a marriage gone wrong for a young Puritan woman is compelling and keeps readers deeply invested in her fate. The heroine of the novel, Mary Deerfield, is trying to divorce her violent husband, and, as the title implies, this is a dangerous time for a woman to draw attention to herself.
Bohjalian keeps readers guessing as to who’s to blame and what the final verdict for Deerfield will be.
Raela Schoenherr works in marketing at a publishing company and is a lifelong lover of books and reading.
