cover image The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

Katherine Howe, , read by Katherine Kellgren. . Hyperion Audio, $39.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-4013-9305-2

Howe's novel moves back and forth between the summer of 1991 in Salem, Mass., and the 17th-century witch trial era, as college student Connie Goodwin chances upon a mysterious book written by the elusive Deliverance Dane. The characters are thin and the plot predictable, but Katherine Kellgren does her best with the material. Her voice is pleasing, her pacing and emphasis good, her diction clear but conversational. Most of her characters are distinguishable and reasonably represented, but the exaggerated British accent she adopts for the villain makes him more comical than terrifying. A Hyperion/Voice hardcover (Reviews, May 25 ). (June)