More Weight: A Salem Story

More Weight: A Salem Story by Ben Wickey (2025) 532 pages 

I loved the in depth history, mostly in black and white, of the 1692 events. So much more disturbing than Arthur Miller's version of events in The Crucible. The focus on Giles and Martha Corey works well. I also appreciated poets Longfellow and Hawthorne's tour of Salem in the 1860s. It goes in an otherworldly direction, which seems odd, until you realize that this part has been a ghost story all along. The two parts connect because Longfellow had written a play about the Salem Witch Trials focusing on the Coreys and Hawthorne is related to one of the judges with his family living in the Salem area for generations. The Intro and Outro about the aftermath of the witch trials leading to modern day Salem is super dense with litigation from mishandled justice, politics, consumerism, and ongoing fictions and frauds. So much fascinating educational material. It took longer to complete than I expected, but I'm glad I stayed with it.

The Best Kind of People

The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall, 430 pages

When a high school teacher is arrested, accused by four students of sexual misconduct on a class ski trip, his life and the lives of his family are turned completely upside down. The author transports the reader delicately into the evolving points of view of  his wife, adult son, and high school-aged daughter. We see how the crisis changes relationships within and outside the family. Like his family, I kept wondering whether to believe the man or his accusers. Whittall's novel, published in 2016, evokes the #MeToo movement that has lately resonated through our society.