On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now.

Mary Ellen Phillips of Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colo., says her favorite book of the summer is the debut, much-hailed historical fiction novel “The Hounding” by Xenobe  Purvis.

Set in Oxfordshire, England, in 1700, this story about a rumor gone wild has Salem witch trial vibes. 

The five sisters at the center of the novel don’t fit in. Raised by their widowed grandfather, they don’t act the way ladies are expected to. They’re loud, they make jokes, and they stick to themselves.

The ferryman begins telling the townsfolk that the sisters are turning into dogs at night, and that people have seen these dogs running about town. Many of the townspeople are quick to accept this rumor as truth, and events escalate from there. 

The treatment of women and women’s health is central to this story, which is packed with real historical details.  

Read an interview with Xenobe Purvis here:   

 Xenobe Purvis discusses her debut novel 'The Hounding,' about female persecution : NPR