Days to the Gallows: A Novel of the Hartford Witch Panic

Basto’s chilling debut serves as a provocative reminder of how the term “witch hunt” became part of the American lexicon. In 1662 Hartford, Conn., 17-year-old Hester Hosmer follows her friend Ann Cole to watch an eerie moonlit gathering of some of their neighbors. In a subsequent prayer meeting, Ann claims that those at the gathering are witches, and the float-or-sink water tests and trials begin. Hester watches with growing horror as those with unacceptable religious beliefs—and some Puritans—are condemned by the righteous Marshal Gilbert and are publicly hanged. As Hester’s fear that she will be one of the ones accused intensifies, the handsome young Tom, whose family are traveling traders, could offer a way out. Basto’s use of period language can make for awkward prose, but her descriptions can be rather striking. (“Rumors swirled like the powdered snow that drifted off the wind-blown mounds.”) The ugliness of early American religious persecution and misogyny are admirably captured in this well-researched story.[em] (BookLife) [/em]