It is the year 1691 and to an isolated village comes a man representing the Church Commissioners. Years earlier a woman has been burned as a witch and her house with her. As this house stood on Church land,the situation is finally to be investigated. Both the magistrate and the preacher were closely involved with the witch trial at the time and the investigator attempts to question both of them and also the villagers. However his questions come up against a wall of silence and hostility. As the investigator (termed misleadingly in the book an Inquisitor) pursues his quest for the truth,he becomes obsessed with the secrets he is uncovering. ( )