Review: Delightful!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 27, 2013
4.5*Book source ~ Many thanks to Entangled for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.Lydia Colson is a physician/midwife in the town of Salem. One dark night after delivering a baby and she is on her way home she comes across a man thrown from his horse. Getting him to her home and examining him shows several injuries, but none severe. However, in the process of her examination a neighbor bursts in to request her services and sees Lydia in a compromising position with a half-naked strange man. In order to save Lydia from a charge of adultery, Henry Dunham declares himself her traveling husband. As no one has seen Lydia's husband (since he's actually dead) the story is plausible. However, malicious people are accusing neighbors of witchcraft and Lydia ends up in their sights. Will Henry be able to save Lydia before she is convicted of being a witch?A fan of historical romance this is the very first book I've read detailing the time of the Salem Witch Trials. I have to say I was fascinated by the way the Puritans lived and completely disgusted by their (some of them anyway) hypocrisy. The mob mentality and the fear of those who want to help the accused but can't risk being accused themselves...rock meet hard place. I only had a passing lesson in the history of the time and that was a long long time ago. This story put me there, to experience what it was like to be accused and be helpless to disprove the allegation. If History in school could be parceled out in fascinating stories like this one then I might have been more interested in the subject during my school years. LOLHenry and Lydia are very likeable characters. I wanted them to succeed and I wanted the crappy people in Salem to get their just desserts. Ah, well...one out of two isn't bad. The mystery surrounding Henry's brother was a little too neat, but overall this is a wonderfully told story of a time in our history that has not much for us to be proud of.