I rest my case. Evil things those books, full of black magic. The others grumbled darkly at this suggestion. Lombardo merely smirked. I've got no use for reading.
Nothing is sinister about reading.
That means she was probably a witch. My mother was no witch. The runaway daughter of a Brythalian gentryman, she fled an unwanted marriage and found her way to Lower Hicksnittle, where she fell in love with my late father, Jolan Cosmo. Strong-willed, educated, and beautiful, she was never fully accepted by the Hicksnittlers, especially the spiteful, jealous wives who envied her looks and grace and frowned on her foreign ways. Janna Cosmo simply ignored their unkind remarks and lived her life as she pleased, which included educating me in what she considered a fitting manner.