When I first spied this book, I have to admit that yes... I did judge it by it's cover. Just a little bit. The cover is very beautifully done in the style of an old ledger, which is one of the key elements of the book. It attracted my attention & screamed out for me to pick it up & admire it. (If it hadn't, I don't think I'd have discovered this book for quite some time, if at all.) 
 The storyline goes over the lives of two women over two different eras. In one part of the book you have Deliverance Dane, a young woman trying to be a midwife & healer of sorts during the infamous Salem witch trial era. In the other you have Connie Goodwin, a college student trying to juggle the tasks of cleaning out her grandmother's old house as well as trying to think up an idea for her thesis. As Connie cleans out her grandmother's house she discovers a piece of paper containing the name "Deliverance Dane" & decides to attempt to discover who this person was as well as why her grandmother had the name written down. Meanwhile in ye olde times, Deliverance has to try to eke out a meager living while attempting to avoid being accused as a witch, something that may not be possible due to the actions of other townspeople. 
 Overall I have to say that I liked this book. It's a bit slow moving at times, but I liked the descriptions. The ending for the book is fantastic, but I have to say that one thing sort of nagged me. (A bit of a spoiler here!!) Along the course of the book you discover that the imagined witchcraft is real witchcraft. It's not over the top, but it kind of seemed a little well... superfluous to the storyline itself. The whole "magic is real" element could have been taken out & avoided entirely. Maybe the author was trying to catch a bit of a "Witches of Eastwick" or "Practical Magic" vibe, but I just felt like it really wasn't necessary. Still, the book is pretty well done & for a first novel it's fantastic. Historical fiction fans will enjoy this but fans of fantasy & urban fiction may want to check this book out from the library or wait for a paperback before plunking down the bucks for a hardback version.