"We must repent and repair, and tread with care, for the Devil is running amok in Massachusetts" (47).

The last thing on Earth 12-year-old Deliverance Trembley needs is more problems. She's already nursing her frail older sister, completing all the chores around the farm while her uncle's away, and doing her level best to convince the nosy citizens of Salem Village - as well as herself - that she and Remembrance haven't, in fact, been abandoned by said uncle. When rumors of witchcraft sweep through the town, it makes Deliverance shudder. Hysteria's taken over people's good senses, and there's no telling who will be accused next.

Unlike a lot of girls in the village, Deliverance knows how to read and write. When she finds a blank book in her uncle's farmhouse, she starts journaling as a way to vent all the feelings she holds inside. It becomes her solace, her haven, a place to record not only her own emotions, but also her exhiliration and fear as witch hunting fever takes over the town. Deliverance has never been tight with the accusing girls. Crossing them now means risking a hanging. But as careful as she is to watch her step, Deliverance has never been good at holding her tongue. Will her skepticism about the girls' "ability" put her own head in the noose? With her uncle gone, her older brother training with the militia, and her own sister caught up in the witch hunts, Deliverance has no one to turn to, no one to protect her. Only in her diary can she express her true thoughts - dangerous thoughts, thoughts that could get her in trouble if anyone ever read them ...