The Passionate Witch (Horror and Fantasy Classics)

Book excerpt: This early work by Thorne Smith was originally published in 1942 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Passionate Witch' was James Thorne Smith Jr.'s last novel and was left unfinished at the time of his death in 1934, it was finally finished by Norman Matson. Mr. T. Wallace Wooly is a rich, sober, upstanding member of the community who lives a calm, frugal life after the death of his wife. This comfortable existence is ruined by a meeting with Jennifer Broome, Wooly is spellbound to the mysterious women with " a great glory of lustrous dark hair....and a mouth curved in a short cat like smile" and gravity defying cloths. What follows is a whirlwind romance, a string of disastrous 'accidents' and the uttering of a fateful curse.