The First Witch of Boston by
Andrea Catalano
My rating:
2 of 5 stars
I picked up The First Witch of Boston for the historical story, and that was ultimately the part I found most satisfying. Knowing that Maggie and Thomas were based on real people made the story especially interesting to me, and I enjoyed the connections to seventeenth-century New England history. I was also satisfied with the ending.
Unfortunately, the book contains far more explicit sexual content than I expected or needed. I'm certainly not opposed to romance or a well-written love scene, but this went well beyond that for me. At times, the very detailed sex scenes seemed to overwhelm the historical narrative rather than enhance the relationship or the story. There was a fascinating historical novel underneath it all, and I wish the author had trusted that story a little more.
I also found the repeated references to Anne Hutchinson somewhat odd. Bringing Hutchinson into the story once or twice made sense as another example of a woman who challenged the religious and social expectations of Puritan Massachusetts. But the novel returned to her so frequently that I began wondering why other women and other examples from the period weren't used to provide a broader historical context.
Overall, I appreciated the underlying history and enjoyed the conclusion, but the excessive sexual content and somewhat narrow historical framing kept this from being as good a read for me as it could have been.
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