The Cunning Woman’s Cup

Author(s): Sue Hewitt

Location(s): Northumberland

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): Contemporary and historical

When Alice McCleish’s gardener Brian unearths an object of great archeological significance deep under the compost heap it is not only Alice and her burgeoning friendship with Margaret Allerton, retired Professor of Anthropology, that are affected; the family, friends and neighbours of Alice, who people the narrative, are also touched by subsequent events.

Alice and Margaret find themselves questioning long-held beliefs about the material and spiritual world that surrounds them; and both women find their lives transformed by their newfound companionship. Serendipity puts Alice’s nearest neighbour, the troubled Violet Turnbull, in touch with the enigmatic Avian Tyler, whose mystical ‘gift’offers Violet a promise of liberation.

All the while an echoing voice from long, long ago hints at the history of the locality dominated by the standing stone circle that bestrides the skyline above the small community of Duddo, while charting the harrowing story that reveals the provenance of the artefacts found beneath the compost heap.

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