The Widow of Ratchets [first edition]

The Widow of Ratchets tells the slightly supernatural and highly ominous story of American Lyndsay Kramer Dolben, an attractive newly wed who arrives in England to rejoin her husband only to be immediately informed of his recent death. Overcome with grief, the young widow travels to Ratchets, the remote village where Michael's family has lived for centuries. But even before the funeral arrangements are completed, Lyndsay begins to suspect that the traditions of the town and its inhabitants, especially their unorthodox reverence for the Land, are frighteningly peculiar. The unraveling of these ancient and bloody fertility rituals and incestuous primitive taboos keeps her intellectually and emotionally occupied for the remainder of this awesome and gripping story.