The Murderess is a bonechilling tale of crime and punishment with the dark beauty of a backwoods ballad. Set on the dirtpoor Aegean island of Skiathos it is the story of Hadoula an old woman living on the margins of society and at the outer limits of respectability. Hadoula knows about herbs and their hidden properties and women come to her when they need help. She knows womens secrets and she knows the misery of their lives and as the book begins she is trying to stop her newborn granddaught