Deliverance from Evil

Hill (Out of Bounds) has written extensively as a historian on the Salem witch trials, and taps expertly into this knowledge for her third novel aiming "to reach the essential truths." Almost her entire cast of characters consists of the actual people who lived, worshipped, and suffered in 17th-century Salem during the witch hunts. In January 1692, the unordained Rev. George Burroughs and his closest friend, Capt. Peter White, are living in the remote settlement of Wells, in Maine, where Burroughs rescues young Mary Cheever after a local Indian massacre. Meanwhile, in Salem, Mass., Burroughs's former parish, two girls on a winter's night whip themselves into a frenzy that sends the whole of Salem into superstition and hysteria resulting in the witch examinations and trials. Burroughs, now married to Mary, is accused as the "leader of witches," arrested, and taken in irons to Salem. Mary and Peter travel to Salem, where their energetic efforts to prove his innocence fail, including Mary's meeting with the priggish, lecherous religious figure Cotton Mather. Hill's done a fine job with a subject that's inspired countless accounts, adding historical content that makes this treatment stand out from the rest. (Mar.)