The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane – Serendipity

I recently read an interview with Margaret Atwood where she was talking about how she felt that the internet promoted literacy. In the interview she said she didn't think bookstores would disappear due to the internet and ebooks because bookstores offer an opportunity for serendipity that the internet does not. To a certain extent I agree - when you walk in a bookstore you see the big pyramidal stacks of best sellers, but when you wander in further, meandering along shelves, a book will often grab you, metaphorically speaking, and not let go. But I also believe there is opportunity for serendipity everywhere, you just have to be open to it.

I found my most recent listening pleasure, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, purely by happy accident. I was cruising Library to Go for something to listen to as I was between books. I had recently listened to one of L.A. Meyer's Bloody Jack books (more about that in a future post) and I really like the reader, Katherine Kellgren. I had listened to her read a number of other books and have always been impressed. So I did a search for books she had read, and one that didn't have any holds on it looked interesting. So, through online serendipity, I gave it a try and after a bit of a slow beginning, I was hooked. I always know it's a good one when I plug my speakers and MP3 player in at work and grab a couple of minutes of listening when there is nobody in the library with me.

I'm not sure if this book, which tells two parallel stories that swirl around the 1692 Salem Witch trials, would be considered high literature, but it seemed to be just what I was needing in that moment. It was a book about self-discovery, magic (usually one of my main criteria, but not always), history, books, and a little light romance thrown in to sweeten the pot. I always find myself in a quiet, reflective mood in the time between Christmas and New Years. It seems to be a time of possibility and great dreams – the perfect time to listen to a book by a great reader, that features a woman discovering herself and her ancestors at the same time. Hmmmm... serendipity? I managed to find the perfect book, for the perfect time, when I wasn't looking for it.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, features Connie, a young Harvard graduate student who is searching for a new source of material as she works on her thesis in American Colonial history. At the same time, her mother, Grace - a new-age ex hippie in New Mexico, makes her daughter visit her grandmother's old home near Salem to prepare it for sale. The house is overgrown with vines and has no phone or electricity. It hasn't been visited for over 20 years. Connie finds a key in a bible, and in a chamber in the key, finds a parchment with "Deliverance Dane" written on it, which launches the woman's quest for her own connection to the Salem Witch Trials and the gifts passed down through the women in her family.

In her prologue, author Katherine Howe, who was doing her own thesis when the idea for the story came to her, explains how she looked at the people of the Puritan age when the trials occurred and their firm belief in witchcraft. Instead of dismissing the belief of this large group of people like most historians and authors did, she approached the story from a different point of view. "What if they were right?"

Loved the story, loved the reading, and had that warm, tingly, happy feeling (tinged with that sense of loss that always happens when I finish a good book) when it was over.

I downloaded The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane from Library to Go, and Hyperion doesn't seem to have much of an online presence for their audiobooks so you can listen to a sample here at Library to Go.

Listen Up!

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, (12 hrs, 45 mins), Hyperion Audio, (2009)

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place - The Mysterious Howling / the Hidden Gallery

OK, blogging while on vacation can be a bit dodgy with a less than stellar internet connection and a computer that seems a bit homesick. Nonetheless, here is another series I can't get enough of. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place is a hilarious series by Maryrose Wood. No magic, trolls, etc. so far but I think there might be something dark and hairy coming in the next book.

Penelope Lumley is a fifteen year old graduate of the Swanburne School for Poor Bright Females. Yes, she's an orphan – it seems all the best stories are written about them! She's also extremely smart and highly resourceful. In the first book, The Mysterious Howling, she accepts a job as a governess with Lord and Lady Ashton of Ashton Place.

Penelope knows nothing of the children before she takes the job, only that any potential governess, "must love animals." Penelope loves ponies and dogs and all kinds of animals. When she arrives, however, she discovers her charges are three feral children who were taken out of the woods less than a week earlier and are currently sleeping in the barn. Then she discovers she must have them ready to be presented to a Christmas ball only two months away. She immediately sets to work, using the words of Agatha Swanburne (founder of her school) to guide her, and gets the children bathed and into clothing - she has to get one of the young male servants to demonstrate to the two boys how to put on pants – apparently it's harder than it looks.

The new governess sets about teaching the three, Alexander, Beowolf, and Cassiopea to speak English, learn poetry, and use basic skills for eating and manners. Her ground breaking squirrel desensitization program, intended to prevent the children from chasing and eating squirrels, could almost be called revolutionary.

In the end, it seems someone is trying to sabotage Penelope's efforts, which may put the children in grave danger as Lord Ashton and his friends are particularly fond of hunting and not very concerned with the species of their prey!

In the second book, The Hidden Gallery, Ashton Place is being renovated due to the damage caused by the children (completely not their fault!) at the end of the first book. Unable to live in such squalor, Lady Ashton moves the entire house to luxurious rented accommodations in London. Penelope tries to teach the children about art, architecture, theatre, and all things that are plentiful in London. Again, her plans are thwarted and much danger and merriment ensue. The origins of the children, and even Penelope herself, begin to come into question.

Katherine Kellgren, who narrates part of the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan, does a smashing job narrating this story and as the prim, proper, and oh so practical Penelope Lumley she is fantastic!

I downloaded both of these books from Library to Go. I liked them so much I also bought the print and CD versions for my library. I couldn't find samples on the Listening Library or Harper Audio sites so you'll have to listen to them at Library to Go, or take my word for it that they're just plain awesome.

Listen Up!

The Mysterious Howling, (5 hrs, 27 mins), Listening Library, (2010)
The Hidden Gallery, (5 hrs, 57 mins), Harper Audio, (2011)