...for Witch Wood specially I am always grateful; all that devilment sprouting up out of a beginning like Galt's Annals of the Parish. That's the way to do it. — C. S. Lewis Published in 1927, Scottish writer John Buchan's Witch Wood is set in a rural parish located in the Scottish Borders during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The story centers around newly-ordained minister David Sempill's arrival in Woodilee in the wake of the Church of Scotland's acceptance of the Solemn League and Covenant and explores themes and issues surrounding religious tolerance and seventeenth-century Calvinism. With pagan rituals, an outbreak of the plague, and rumors about fairies and the devil, Witch Wood also delves into the supernatural and occult. Written while doing research for his biography of Scottish nobleman James Graham, the 1st Marquess of Montrose, Witch Wood is considered Buchan's masterpiece by scholars and critics. Read by Scottish narrator Angus King, this audio edition maintains sections of dialogue originally written and published in Scots.
