I picked up this book on Friday and I can't put it down! It's called "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" and is a marriage of two of my favorite things to read about - mystery and history, especially early American history.
Here's the basic plot as stated in the book jacket cover:
"Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest - to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge."
Well, you get the idea. This book is by no means breaking new literary ground, but hey, I got up early this morning to read it, so that must be worth something.
I'm always fascinated by books that deal with the early formation of this country. I've been reading a ton of them lately with subjects varying from John Adams, early native American culture to the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth.
Still trying to get through a comprehensive history of North Carolina...dense, but fascinating read. For instance, I didn't realize that North Carolina has one of the oldest rivers in the world, second only to the Nile. (Incidentally, it's called the "New" River). Also, I never knew that North Carolina was founded as a proprietary colony, by eight Englishmen. It didn't become a royal colony until the 1700's. Umm, people do probably learn this in grade school, but it is fun re-discovering banal historical facts anway.
Okay, so I'm a nerd. But, I think what fascinates me the most is the fact that we will never have the opportunity to do what these folks did ever again. Baring a major catastrophe that wipes out civilization, we will never be able to colonize a new land or build a civilization from scratch.
Any other good history books I should be reading?
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that book looks really interesting! even for someone not tooo interested in history, like me.
ReplyDeletethanks for your comment! we actually went to beaufort grocery the next day (there is a picture of us in front of it in the blog after the one you commented on) and it was delicious!