The Withered Arm

Summary

Thomas Hardy's sinister tale of jealousy, unrequited love and a mysterious and hideous curse. When Farmer Lodge brings his new wife home, nobody is more resentful and yet curious about her than his spurned former lover, Rhoda Brooke. But a terrifying and supernatural nightmare in which the two women fight, leaves strange and sinister marks on the young wife's arm. Over the weeks and months that follow, the arm begins to wither and wrinkle. She seeks every possible cure, resorting in the end to consulting a mysterious conjurer. The remedy he proposes is too horrible to contemplate... and yet, the young woman feels she has no other choice...Gripping!