Tim McGregor wastes no time introducing us to the realities of daily life in and around the 1821 Rhode Island village of Wickstead where Hearts Strange and Dreadful is set, and in the same strokes that prepare the lamb for the Stokely family meals, we know what's what in the Stokely household, especially when it comes to the 17-year-old narrator Hester Stokely, cousin and adopted sister to the children of the family since her parents died in the same housefire which scarred her face when she was 12.

Sarafina is the fourth book I have read by Philip Fracassi, and it is definitely my favorite so far.  Unlike many from my part of the United States (the "South"), I have never been a big Civil War buff, but the promise of supernatural witchiness encouraged me to read this, and now I encourage you to do so.

One of my favorite things about buying used books is finding the little things left behind, from inscriptions and annotations to bookmarks, receipts, and sticky notes, and I am ready for my own (less murder-y) adventure to start from a secret note beneath an endpaper. 

The Entirely True Story may not be “entirely true”, but it is entirely entertaining, especially for those with any interest in the history of mesmerism or spiritualists such as the Fox Sisters, or even Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle or in the feminist struggles of women at that time (or now).