THE WOLVES OF ANDOVER by Kathleen Kent (✰✰✰)

This was a bit of a weird book for me. I liked the general story line and enjoyed the fact that the female protagonist was a wee bit unlikeable, but I had some major complaints with the author's style of delivery. Kathleen Kent's prose did not strike a dissonant chord with me; but, unfortunately, she failed to employ that narrative gift in a way which led the reader along through the story. Instead, through the device of letters and journal entries, she did far too much outright telling. It is apparent that Kent knows a great deal about the history of her characters, time frame, and Puritan America setting. Sadly, rather than that information melding with and shaping the tale, it is tossed at the reader like Wikipedia entries. This book, though written after the bestselling The Heretic's Daughter, is a prequel to that book. I have Heretic's Daughter on my MP3 player, and do intend to listen to it, because the author took part in the online discussion of one of my book groups, and it will be a rare opportunity for insight into her writing process.