Katherine Howe

Harvard Book Store welcomes New York Times bestselling novelist KATHERINE HOWE—author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and The House of Velvet and Glass—for a discussion of her latest novel, The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs.

About The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs

Connie Goodwin is an expert on America’s fractured past with witchcraft. A young, tenure-track professor in Boston, she’s earned career success by studying the history of magic in colonial America—especially women’s home recipes and medicines—and by exposing society's threats against women fluent in those skills. But beyond her studies, Connie harbors a secret: She is the direct descendant of a woman tried as a witch in Salem, an ancestor whose abilities were far more magical than the historical record shows. When a hint from her mother and clues from her research lead Connie to the shocking realization that her partner’s life is in danger, she must race to solve the mystery behind a hundreds-years-long deadly curse.

Flashing back through American history to the lives of certain supernaturally gifted women, The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs affectingly reveals not only the special bond that unites one particular matriarchal line, but also explores the many challenges to women’s survival across the decades—and the risks some women are forced to take to protect what they love most.

Praise for The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs

"The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs combines exacting historical research with compelling, imaginative storytelling. There is real magic at work in this book, which illuminates, like a candle in the dark, the enduring courage, wisdom, and searing power of women, passed down through countless generations." ―Kathleen Kent, New York Times bestselling author of The Heretic's Daughter

“Katherine Howe invites us into a richly imagined, intricate world of family curses and secrets waiting to be unlocked. Elegant, twisty, and timely, The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs has it all.” ―Matthew Pearl, New York Times bestselling author of The Dante Chamber and The Dante Club

"Katherine Howe is back and in fine, bewitching form. I relished criss-crossing centuries as Connie Goodwin―equal parts scholar, sleuth, and sorceress―tackles the mystery of a curse on the women of her notorious lineage, racing to break the spell before it breaks her."
―Julia Glass, National Book Award–winning author of Three Junes and A House Among the Trees