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THE WITCH STONE by Margaret Duncan

THE WITCH STONE

By

Pub Date: Feb. 25th, 1975
Publisher: St. Martin's

One would be daft indeed not to catch the drift when 17th century Scots minister Alistair inadvertently blurts out a wish to be healed of impotence before a ""leprous""-looking stone--and immediately afterward rescues a wee, curiously potent, lass from the sea. He names her Eve and once at home. she has him in bed in the wink of a newt's dye. Eve soon becomes his wife. This in spite of Alistair's love for gentle Margaret, now married to a hateful baronet. Amongst the accelerating signs that supernatural powers are everywhere, there are odd deaths and evil rites; witchcraft trials get underway, Margaret's husband dies, and Margaret, carrying Alistair's child, is accused of murder. Then the many faces of Eve cohere, Margaret expires, while Alistair is about to commit another unwholesome error. Not much flavor, but a quota of familiar ingredients.