A Witch of the Hills, V. 2 [Of 2]

Volume two of Florence Warden's haunting romance opens in the midst of emotional turmoil. Harry Maude has watched his ward, the elusive Babiole Ellmer, slip away from him since Mr. Ellmer's visit shattered their comfortable intimacy. His love has grown into something desperate and devouring, yet he is paralyzed by self-doubt, convinced he is too old, too plain, too insignificant to claim her. When the artist Fabian Scott arrives, flamboyant and confident, Harry's world tilts further into jealousy and despair. The hills that surround them have never felt so isolating, so full of shadows. Babiole herself remains a enigma: is she the witch the locals whisper of, or simply a woman whose spirit cannot be contained by the small lives around her? Warden's psychological acuity is sharp, she maps the topography of a man being destroyed by his own longing, by what he cannot have, by the gap between desire and self-worth. This is Victorian fiction at its most emotionally raw, where the real horror is not supernatural but psychological: watching a good man unravel.