“The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs” by Katherine Howe. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2019. 352 pages, $28 (hardback).

Oh, I know this is the cheesiest way to describe this story, but it was magical! I love a book that combines history with fantasy and takes the world we live in and adds just that right amount of mystery and fairy tale.

If you have not read “The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane,” no worries – you will still understand the story. Although this book is self-contained, there are a few things here and there that answer questions left over from the first book, and which delight any reader who realizes it. So, if you have not read “Deliverance Dane” you really should just buy it at the same time and read it first. It is one of my favorite novels, and when I found out there was going to be a sequel, I squealed in delight and immediately asked for a copy to review!

The Salem witch trials have appeared in many novels, as have stories surrounding them. The thing I always loved about Katherine Howe’s novel, and which continues in “The Daughters” is that the magic is neither flashy nor loud. It is herbal lore, and small things that they use to help those around them. Altogether, it makes it more believable and real to those of us without magic. However, in this story we learn that perhaps there were larger magics that were rarely performed by the witches, and only used in emergencies. As the story flows along, we learn about the past and about Connie’s understanding of the women she is descended from.

Connie Goodwin is an academic, an expert on witchcraft and America’s fractured past concerning it. She is a professor on track to gain tenure at a school in Boston, and she has earned her success by studying the history of magic. That includes women’s home recipes and medicines – and how society has been threatened by women skilled in these areas. However, Connie’s secret is that she is the direct descendant of a witch in Salem, an ancestor that was truly magical. While doing research for her book, she gets a hint from her mother that leads Connie to realize her partner’s life is in danger because of a 100-year-old curse. “The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs” has flashbacks through history to the lives of Connie’s ancestors to show their bond and the strength in their line. It also explores the challenges that women have faced simply trying to make a living without a husband, and the risks they took to keep their families safe.

The story flashes back occasionally to ancestors of Connie’s, including a few we have seen before. In these, we get answers to a few of the questions left after reading “Deliverance Dane.” They bring another element to the history that Connie is researching and help these people within to feel more alive than ever. Whether it is during a storm or a hard birth, their stories resonate with the reader and strengthen the connection to Connie. They draw in the reader, because you want to follow the history of the family and discover what happened to them.

Connie and Sam themselves – the couple the story focuses on – are in a well-established relationship. I liked that, instead of seeing a romance in bloom, we saw a couple fighting to stay together, realizing the faults that they have and working through them to be better for one another (though perhaps it was mostly one-sided there). The dynamics of the relationship felt real, and instead of being something that was idealized or a relationship that was easy, we saw two people working together through career choices and conflicting passions, to find a way together.

Relationships are perhaps Howe’s strong suits, because the relationships between Connie and her mentors, as well as her new mentee and mother, help make this novel the work of art that it is. Connie and her mother have a rocky relationship. Even though Connie knows she is descended from a witch, I think it can be difficult for her to swallow her mother’s brand of new-age magic. The love is there, however, and the scenes when Connie went back to her home are my favorite. Connie also begins guiding a young student on her way to getting her Ph.D., and the academic world is an interesting one to navigate.

As someone who works at a university, I enjoyed this side of the novel from the issues with conferences and tenure, to answering a drowning amount of emails once grades are posted. Their relationship develops well, from the issues that women often face in their careers, the decisions they must make (oftentimes between family and careers progressing), and the whispers that spread. With all of that, it was these relationships that helped the story move forward, and from where Connie often drew her strength. Her friend, Liz, from graduate school, was also a great help to her. Their understanding of how they individually worked, and when they needed each other, was a testament to many of the friendships women have.

The book perhaps is a little slow, and if you do not enjoy the tiny details, you may not like some of the writing. However, this part did not bother me in the least. There were a few things that felt like loose ends (do not want to give spoilers here, but hint: it’s a store), and the ending left room for another novel to come. Overall, I enjoyed this novel as much as I hoped I would, and I plan to reread “Deliverance Dance” as soon as I have a chance.

Howe is a New York Times best-selling and award-winning writer of historical fiction. “The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs,” her new novel for adults, will be published June 25.

– Reviewed by Fallon Willoughby, Academic Advising and Retention, Western Kentucky University.