Thursday, August 5, 2021

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings

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It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:
  • Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
  • The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring a book club selection, Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover edition borrowed from the library.




Beginning: Prologue

It was always possible that the Devil was present.

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Page 56:  Yes, that was dabbling in something dangerous, too, but was it evil?

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My thoughts:  I have enjoyed many novels written by this author, and admire his diverse subject and time range. 

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From GoodReads: 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 historical thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant.

Boston, 1662. Mary Deerfield is twenty-four-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 finds 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 thriller from one of our greatest storytellers, Hour of the Witch is a timely and terrifying novel of socially sanctioned brutality and the original American witch hunt.
 




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This Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution. 

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14 comments:

  1. I've heard great things about this book and it's definitely on my list. I love the tone of the quotes you've picked as well, they only whet my appetite! Thanks for sharing and I hope you have a lovely weekend :)
    Juli @ A Universe in Words

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    1. Thanks for the feedback, Juli. Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

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  2. Okay, now I definitely must read this one! I did buy it, and I love this author, but I was not sure about the witchery or the historical aspects. But now I must turn those pages.

    Here's mine: “THE GUILT TRIP”

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  3. Intriguing snippets! Happy weekend!

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  4. Hope you enjoy this one. Happy reading!

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  5. I do love this author, and bought this book right away. But I haven't yet read it. Soon!

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    1. We should compare notes on this book after we've both read it, Laurel-Rain!

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  6. Oh this one is on my TBR. It looks like such an intriguing read!

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    1. I'm intrigued that it is both historical fiction and a thriller!

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  7. I love the quotes, especially the beginning. It seems to take us straight into the story, which sounds really exciting.

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  8. I totally agree! This author is such a great storyteller.

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