Thornyhold
Thornyhold is a fantasy novel by Mary Stewart published in 1988. Summary. The story is about a lonely child, Geillis "Gilly" Ramsey, who is made to see the world through her mother's cousin's (also Geillis — Gilly was named after her) unusual eyes. When the child becomes a young woman, she inherits her dead cousin's house as well as her reputation among the local community as a white witch and herbalist. However, as she finds out, this is no normal community, and worries quickly present themselves. Magical effort is pointed at the attractive and widowed popular writer , Christopher Dryden, who lives in rural isolation with his young son. As Christopher Dryden points out to Gilly, her (and her mother's cousin's) name is that of a real witch, Geillis Duncane, who was tried in Edinburgh in the late 16th century during the North Berwick witch trials. Gilly's rival for the affections of Dryden, Agnes Sampson, shares a name with another woman tried at North Berwick.