To the villagers, not even the big cross on the sierra above Zohara is sufficient protection against the powers of Satan. For the Hill of Nettles has long been the haunt of witches, and old Mamen, who lives at its foot alone with her cat, subsisting on the roots and berries she can gather, is clearly suspect. In Doña Asunción's time all had been well, for her saintliness had been an added protection, but with her death María in the village begins to prophesy doom.
Such is the situation in Zohara at the opening of Geoffrey Drayton's gripping new novel--a story of mounting tension which is also a vivid picture of a small village community.
To the villagers, not even the big cross on the sierra above Zohara is sufficient protection against the powers of Satan. For the Hill of Nettles has long been the haunt of witches, and old Mamen, who lives at its foot alone with her cat, subsisting on the roots and berries she can gather, is clearly suspect. In Doña Asunción's time all had been well, for her saintliness had been an added protection, but with her death María in the village begins to prophesy doom.
Such is the situation in Zohara at the opening of Geoffrey Drayton's gripping new novel--a story of mounting tension which is also a vivid picture of a small village community.