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The Witches' Hammer [Mass Market Paperback]

Jane Stanton Hitchcock (Author)
Price: £6.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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  • This item: The Witches' Hammer by Jane Stanton Hitchcock Mass Market Paperback

    In stock but may require up to 2 additional days to deliver.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Mortal Friends by Jane Stanton Hitchcock Paperback

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    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (1 May 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0061284211
  • ISBN-13: 978-0061284212
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 12.4 x 2.8 cm
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 332,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

Jane Stanton Hitchcock
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Product Description

Product Description

A rare book collector in New York City receives a grimoire, a medieval book of black magic; shortly afterward, he is murdered. His daughter, Beatrice O'Connell, believes that the grimoire is connected to the murder and vows to discover how and why. Soon, she realizes that there is a powerful conspiracy connected to the grimoire as well as to another tome, a 15th-century book written to encode Christendom's eradication of witchcraft. As she grapples with the conspiracy, Beatrice also struggles with her long-dormant sexuality, now awakened to a fierce pitch. This provocative, compelling, and unsettling novel brilliantly explores the misogyny of Western culture and particularly of the Catholic Church.

About the Author

Jane Stanton Hitchcock has written four novels, THE WITCHES' HAMMER, TRICK OF THE EYE (nominated for both an Edgar Award and the Hammett Prize), SOCIAL CRIMES (the New York Times bestseller), and ONE DANGEROUS LADY. She has written several plays, including an adaptation of Edith Wharton's THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY and VANILLA, which was directed in London by Harold Pinter.
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Amazon.com:  20 reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Hear Me Roar! 17 Mar 2003
By sweetmolly - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
After being thoroughly delighted with Jane Stanton Hitchcock's latest novel, "Social Crimes," I couldn't wait to read this earlier outing. Before reading 20 pages of "The Witches' Hammer", I could hardly believe it was by the same author. The plot was sheer comic strip, the characters were one-dimensional, and it had "movie" written all over it. (Though I find it hard to believe even Hollywood would think of taking on this potboiler.)

Totally repressed, gently bred, convent educated Beatrice O'Connell is confronted with the murder of her book collector father the day after he receives an ancient book of evil spells. She feels the police are apathetic and vows to find her father's murderer and is convinced the answer lies in the little book. She descends to Spanish Harlem to meet with an occultist and meets a totally erotic, sensual man. She goes with him and realizes her inner "wolf" woman. She returns from the wild and steamy assignation a charged and changed woman. She discovers an evil cabal within the Catholic Church who are willing to go to any lengths to recover the now lost book. This group wants to return to the practices of the Spanish Inquisition, locate and burn witches, and completely repress women because they are inherently evil. Her allies are her ex-husband and a strange frail little rare bookseller. The evil ones have a big spread in upper New York State that Beatrice infiltrates. The conspiracy is everywhere. The action becomes increasingly bloody and violent when Beatrice is confronted on all sides by malevolence.

I felt like Beatrice stepped into a phone booth and came out in her Superman suit to take on the forces of evil. I could not make the leap of faith that Marion the Librarian is in reality a Wonder Woman/Superman. Feminists would be better served by Pat Buchanan than "The Witches' Hammer" over-the-top silliness. The only thing I learned from this book was the definition of "grimoire." Read "Social Crimes" and give this one a pass.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
An absorbing read 30 July 2001
By "ljarvi" - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I was very intrigued and entertained by this novel. I felt that it was well-written, had believable characters, and presented a fascinating story which kept me hooked to the end. I certainly do not believe that the modern world is beyond the sort of fanaticism described in this book. I'm not surprised at the negative reviews from people who are obviously disturbed and/or threatened by its frank and unflinching exploration of the themes of sexuality, witchcraft, and religion. Ms. Stanton has worked to illuminate the complexities of human experience and motive through her characters, and has managed to spin a good yarn in the bargain! She has also tried to avoid having her characters become mere mouthpieces for one perspective. She succeeded admirably in this with her female lead character, allowing her to grow and deepen in her understanding of the conflicting aspects of herself, but was not as successful giving this same capacity to her male characters. Ms. Stanton seemed content to leave them hopelessly stuck in their automatic reactions and compulsions. Despite the feminist male stereotyping, it was a fun read. I will definitely be looking for other novels by this author.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Highly Recommended 5 Sep 1998
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Its not easy to write a realistic thriller about witches and witchhunters set in present day New York, but Jane Stanton Hitchcock pulls it off beautifully, with humor, variety and utterly wonderful prose. The characters and their motivations are utterly believable, in fact I think I've met some of them under other names! The activities these characters engage in are something we confidently tell ourselves is a part of the dead past. The combination makes this a truly scary novel, with its reminder that while witch hunts may no longer exist outside of the pages of novels, misogyny, repressed sexuality, scapegoats and obsession with and fear of the other did not die out with the thees and thous and funny hats of Salem, but are alive and well in our own century. An excellent read.

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