Hour of the Witch

A Novel

De: Chris Bohjalian

Narrado por: Grace Experience, Saskia Maarleveld, Danny Campbell, Cassandra Campbell, Arthur Morey, Mark Deakins, Julia Whelan, Kaleo Griffith, Kirby Heyborne, Rebecca Lowman, Mark Bramhall

New York Times Best Seller

From the acclaimed author of The Flight Attendant: “Historical fiction at its best…. The book is a thriller in structure, and a real page-turner, the ending both unexpected and satisfying” (Diana Gabaldon, best-selling author of the Outlander series, The Washington Post).

A young Puritan woman - faithful, resourceful, but afraid of the demons that dog her soul - plots her escape from a violent marriage in this riveting and propulsive novel of historical suspense.

Boston, 1662. Mary Deerfield is 24 years old. Her skin is porcelain, her eyes delft blue, and in England she might have had many suitors. But here in the New World, amid this community of saints, Mary is the second wife of Thomas Deerfield, a man as cruel as he is powerful. When Thomas, prone to drunken rage, drives a three-tined fork into the back of Mary's hand, she resolves that she must divorce him to save her life.

But in a world where every neighbor is watching for signs of the devil, a woman like Mary - a woman who harbors secret desires and finds it difficult to tolerate the brazen hypocrisy of so many men in the colony - soon becomes herself the object of suspicion and rumor. When tainted objects are discovered buried in Mary's garden, when a boy she has treated with herbs and simples dies, and when their servant girl runs screaming in fright from her home, Mary must fight to not only escape her marriage, but also the gallows.

A twisting, tightly plotted novel of historical suspense from one of our greatest storytellers, Hour of the Witch is a timely and terrifying story of socially sanctioned brutality and the original American witch hunt.

©2021 Chris Bohjalian (P)2021 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

One of the Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Fiction for 2021

A Real Simple Best New Book

A Read It Forward Most Anticipated Book

A Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book

A CrimeReads Most Anticipated Book

A GoodReads Most Anticipated Book

An AARP Most Anticipated Book

“Hour of the Witch is historical fiction at its best.... Insightful and empathetic.... Thick with details as chowder is with clams.... Handled with great skill and delicacy. The book is a thriller in structure, and a real page-turner, the ending both unexpected and satisfying.” (Diana Gabaldon, The Washington Post)

"Harrowing.... In the hands of a master storyteller like Bohjalian, [Hour of the Witch is] an engrossing tale of a woman who insists upon the right to navigate her life, and the consequences when she does.” (Danielle Trussoni, New York Times Book Review)

"Bohjalian does an admirable job of bringing his numerous players to life in all their complexity.... Hour of the Witch - part courtroom thriller, part psychological suspense novel - holds a reader’s rapt attention all the way to its startling conclusion.” (Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal)

About 15 mins of plot

Very poorly plotted and told too slowly and with too much repetition/rehashing of events. Some sloppy writing — main character asks A LOT of questions over and over again in interior monologues. And a very amateurish narrator. Skip it.

awful narrator

I was VERY distracted by the narrator/narration.
Her inflections and affect were disruptive.
I have liked this authors books before and found this poor narration over rode the content.

Your nextté lol no

I liked the story line, very easy to follow . On the. othe hand the audio could've used someone else reading.

Don’t hesitate on this book

I listened to a few minutes of the book and almost did not continue, but boy did I really really love it! Just took a little getting used to the language, but after a while, I realized that it actually added to the story

The Crucible Was Better

For such a "smart and well educated' MC she sure does do A Lot of remarkably stupid things where other people can see her.

I thought this was going to be suspenseful, thrilling and supernatural. It was none of them. I made it as far as the last trial scene hoping against hope that Black Phillip would appear in a puff of sulfur and gore the crowd or.... something..... anything that wasn't completely predictable from the second chapter. I no longer care who done it or why as I don't believe the last 45 minutes will reveal anything except that the MC is still painfully stupid.

Medical times in merry old Boston

If you love old English this book is for you. Women in the 1630 had no rights and some were crafty to survive.

wow what a great book, mystery, vengeance, love

wow what a great book, mystery, vengeance, love. the ending a surprise, the book itself, although lengthy, is a really good read. at certain times I found myself getting as angry as a woman should listening to this. you know it's a good book when you get mad just like the character does. Great read

Audio book

Very difficult to listen to with period based grammar. So much repetition of the word “fine” that it was distracting.

Interesting concept that a common fork was considered an instrument of the devil.

Something different

I enjoyed this tale, and it’s very different than anything else I typically listen to. It was kind of a “slow burn” book for me, and for a bit I struggled with how slow and dour it was. I can’t really say that it picked up its pace, but it DID get more interesting. Had a good ending, otherwise I would likely have been frustrated by the story. Overall I thought it was good. Narration was spectacular!

Excellent!

Bravo! What a story, I couldn't be more pleased with this book. I'm so impressed with the writing and the visuals of old Boston. lovely.