Hour of the Witch

by Chris Bohjalia

This book takes place in Boston Massachusetts, 1662. Mary Deerfield is the second wife of a miller nearly twice her age. When he has been drinking the miller can be quite out of sorts. Often on coming home he would take offense over nothing and hit her. The next day he’d have forgotten and there was never an apology. Mary’s father was a well to do importer of goods from England where Mary was born.

One day, Mary receives a rare gift from her mother, four silver forks. Her father had just brought them from England where they were becoming popular. Puritan Mary worries and asks her mother if they are the devils tines, but she keeps them any way. Her maid comes in later and is horrified by what she calls tools of the devil. Later her husband in a drunken rage stabs Mary in the hand with a three tine fork.

The next day Mary goes to her mother’s house to show her parents what her husband did. She says she wants a divorce. Her parents agree and her father hires an attorney, and Mary and the attorney appear before the magistrate to show how her husband mistreated her. The story goes on through the trial and its outcome. Mary becomes desperate, and devises several plans to free herself. But, more trouble begins when her maid accuses her of witchcraft.

There is a lot happening in this book, and Mary is an interesting character. She is a battered wife, but also has a romantic interest in a young man she meets at her father’s ship. She gets accused by people close to her, but other unlikely characters come to her defense.

It is a fast read. There is suspense, romance, cruelty and retribution. I recommend it if you like historical novels.