A Puritan wife shocks her community and risks her life to file for divorce in 1662 Boston. For more than five years, Mary, age 24, has been married to Thomas, 45, a prosperous miller. Thomas has been physically and sexually abusive, always taking care that there are no witnesses. He castigates Mary's intelligence, telling her she has "white meat" for brains. The marriage is childless, drawing community suspicion to Mary. When she can't hide bruises on her face, she lies about their provenance. The behavior, she tells herself, only occurs when Thomas is "drink-drunk." The coverup continues until, cold sober, Thomas drives a fork into Mary's hand, breaking bones. She flees to her parents' home and files for divorce, which is allowed but only if grounds can be proven. Forks are a major motif: Not merely newfangled "cutlery" which Mary's father, a shipping entrepreneur, hopes to profit from importing, but miniature pitchforks viewed by the Puritans as "Devil's tines." The forks, as well as other clues--a mysterious pestle, a pentagram etched on a door frame--are used to counter Mary's compelling, but unwitnessed, claims of cruelty with insinuations of witchcraft. Divorce denied, Mary must return to the marital home and resort to ever more drastic expedients in her quest for freedom. Mary comes from privilege, and her parents clearly care about her. (Unlike the divorce magistrates, they don't believe she injured her hand by falling on a tea kettle spout.) That they allow her return to Thomas to avoid witchcraft charges defies plausibility--death at Thomas' hands seems a more immediate prospect, and her family wealth affords many other options. The charges come anyway--timed for maximum melodrama. The language, salted liberally with thee and thou, feels period-authentic. The colonists' impact on nearby Native tribes is not Bohjalian's primary concern here, but the Hobson's choice facing women in Puritan society is starkly delineated. Illustrates how rough justice can get when religion and institutional sexism are in the mix. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Mary Deerfield, the indomitable, 24-year-old protagonist of this twisty thriller set in 17th-century Boston from bestseller Bohjalian (The Red Lotus), has been married for five years to Thomas, a well-to-do widower almost twice her age, whose abusiveness has escalated with her failure to become pregnant. In bed with her brutish, frequently drunk husband, Mary fantasizes about how different life might be with someone like seductive bachelor Henry Simmons, whom she meets when he pulls her out of the way of an oxcart that threatens to run her down. Gossip soon grows about the pair, at the same time Mary discovers items buried in her garden associated with witchcraft. Then Thomas's most violent assault yet propels Mary to petition for divorce, a step she knows will bring dangerous scrutiny from a populace primed to spy the devil's hand everywhere. Chapter-prefacing snippets from testimony at Mary's future court appearances fan suspense, but also make her painful journey there seem at times excruciatingly slow. With its exploration of themes including domestic abuse, toxic masculinity, and mass hysteria, the novel feels like anything but a period piece. Bohjalian fans and newcomers alike will be satisfied. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (May)

Someone is out to get Mary Deerfield, and in mid-seventeenth-century Boston, that's not hard to do. It's a pious city, and in nearby towns, most notoriously Salem, compassionate, enviable women are easy targets. Twentysomething Mary fits the bill, but she also has a brute of a husband, a devious servant, and suspicious neighbors. The comely Mary, daughter of a prosperous merchant, is miller Thomas Deerfield's second wife. Twice her age, he is a bully and a drunk, physically and emotionally abusive. The berating and beatings are constants, carefully done out of sight until the violence escalates, leading Mary to petition for a rare divorce. The case fails, but Mary is determined to escape this perilous relationship. Yet before she can carry out a new plan, her actions and attitudes earn her the dreaded charge of "witch," with a sham trial and noose already prepared. Throughout Bohjalian's prolific career, he has rewarded readers with indelibly drawn female protagonists, and the formidable yet vulnerable Mary Deerfield is a worthy addition to the canon. Conjuring up specters of #MeToo recriminations and social media shaming, there are twenty-first-century parallels to Bohjalian's atmospheric Puritan milieu, and his trademark extensive research pays off in this authentic portrait of courage in the face of society's worst impulses.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Bohjalian is a perennial favorite, and this Salem Witch Hunt drama has a special magnetism.

In this shocking portrait of life in 1660s Boston, 24-year-old Mary is the wife of an older man named Thomas Deerfield, and the daughter of a wealthy importer. Bohjalian's (The Flight Attendant) descriptions of daily life, grueling work, lashings, and Puritan practices are riveting, along with the antiquated terms of address, such as "thee" and "thou." Puritan men are supposed to guide their "inferior" wives, but Deerfield is cruel and often belittles and beats the sometimes-willful Mary; things escalate when he drives a three-tined fork (a utensil known as "the Devil's tines") into Mary's hand and pretends it was an accident. Mary feels helpless until she petitions the court to divorce Thomas, but the situation worsens when several witnesses claim that Mary is a witch who is trying to kill her husband. She's denied a divorce, then tried as a witch. Much of the book covers Mary's compelling trial, with absorbing dialogue from the prosecution and defense. The conclusion is as unexpected as it is satisfying. Narrator Grace Experience deftly presents a relatable Mary who's inspiring and never gives up despite the horrors she endures. The multiple supporting voices present a seemingly authentic depiction of how the 17th-century setting might have sounded. VERDICT Recommended for historical fiction readers and fans of the author.--Susan G. Baird, formerly at Oak Lawn P.L., IL