Connie Goodwin, a Harvard grad student, discovers a mysterious key among her dead grandmother's belongings, which leads to an investigation of the Salem witch trials. Goodwin, under the guise of researching her doctoral dissertation, becomes obsessed with the key and a woman named Deliverance Dane, a healer and herbalist who was persecuted and likely perished during the witch trials. As Goodwin tries to track down Dane's "physick book," a compendium of ancient mystical arts, she gradually begins to realize that there may be forces greater than chance guiding her pursuit. Katherine Howe's debut novel is semi-autobiographical, as she is the descendent of Elizabeth Howe, one of the many victims of the Salem witch trials.

Forced to set aside her Ph.D. research in order to help the settling of her late grandmother's abandoned home, Connie Goodwin discovers a hidden key among her grandmother's possessions that is linked to a darker chapter in Salem Witch Trial history.

Forced to set aside her Ph.D. research in order to help the settling of her late grandmother's abandoned home, Connie Goodwin discovers a hidden key among her grandmother's possessions that is linked to a darker chapter in Salem Witch Trial history.