Hour of the Witch

by Chris Bohjalian

Cruelty may be defined as violence without provocation and discipline that is excessive.

I was fascinated by the idea that the Puritans viewed marriage entirely as a civil covenant or contract -- not a religious ceremony -- and allowed divorce. It was not common, but 31 times couples divorced in 17th century Massachusetts, and half of them were initiated by women. And there were five reasons why a Puritan woman could divorce her husband: desertion, adultery, polygamy, cruelty, and (wait for it) impotence. Of those 31 divorces, one was for impotence and one was for cruelty. It was Nanny Naylor's divorce of her husband on the grounds of cruelty in 1672 that really enticed me down the research rabbit hole that led to the structure of this novel.