Books

Listen To An Excerpt Of "How To Hang A Witch"

Witches, mean girls, ghosts, and centuries-old curses collide in a new young adult novel that takes place in one of the creepiest places in America: Salem, Massachusetts. In How To Hang A Witch, 15-year-old Sam moves to Salem from New York City — only to be shunned by a group of a girls who call themselves "The Descendants." Sam is a descendent of Cotton Mather, the infamous Puritan minister responsible for the Salem Witch Trials. And "The Descendants?" Well, they're the descendants of the witches.

Plunged into a different town and a different school, Sam must learn to swim the currents of high school as the "new girl" — all while dealing with a very dead ghost. A handsome ghost. A very handsome ghost whose sister was involved in the Witch Trials. Even worse, she soon learns that she's at the center of a centuries-old curse that affects the descendants of the trials. Now Sam — with a little help from her neighbor and classmate, Jaxson — must solve the curse and stop the deadly cycle before it claims its next victim.

The author behind this debut novel has some personal experience with Salem and its descendants: she's one of them. Adriana Mather's ancestor is — you guessed it! — Cotton Mather. Though the story is entirely fictional, Mather drew on her own family legacy to craft a haunting high school tale:

Bustle is proud to exclusively present an excerpt from the novel's audiobook, narrated by the author. In this excerpt — from chapter four of the novel — Sam and Jaxson discover a secret door in the library of her new Salem house that leads them to a stash of information about the curse and the Witch Trials. Listen below:

Are you already hooked on this adventure? How To Hang A Witch will be available wherever books are sold on July 26, in print and audiobook format.