Malefice

Set in a 17th-century English village, this formally ambitious novel explores the troubling legacy of a woman executed for witchcraft. Beginning with the villagers' denunciations of Alice Slade, the story alternates between her last hours in prison, where the vicar attempts to extort a confession, and the narratives of Alice's family, neighbors and onetime friends. Wilson, a British author making her American debut, shuttles among these strands to weave a remarkable picture of a community where folklore, superstition and magic compete with Church teaching. Alice's witchcraft renders her an independent power, revered by many (her friend Sarah, for example, whose child she delivers) and even beloved by others (the radical former vicar James Sykes), but eventually the village turns on her just as, in the end, she turns on it. As more than one character says, ``She knew too much.'' Wilson's lean, uncluttered prose evokes this distant era with the earthy resonance of folktales. The compact, spare structure, however, leaves her little room to flesh out relationships and motives, with the result that her work seems more a well-executed set piece than a fullbodied novel. (May)