''An oppressive forensic psychological thriller: J. K. Rowling meets Antony Beevor Stephen King and Marina Warner. Schiff''s writing is to die for'' THE TIMES It began in 1692 over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter when a minister''s niece started to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later but not before panic had infected the entire colony nineteen men and women had been hanged and a band of adolescent girls had brought Massachusetts to its knees. Vividly capturing the dark unsettled atmosphere of seventeenth-century America Stacy Schiff''s magisterial history draws us into this anxious time. She shows us how quickly the epidemic of accusations trials and executions span out of control. Above all Schiff''s astonishing research reveals details and complexity that few other historians have seen. . Language: English