Witch Finder

When Luke Lexton falls in love with Rosa, the witch-girl he's sworn to kill, the two face an impossible choice between love and death. London, 1880: 18-year-old Luke Lexton is about to endure his initiation into the Malleus Maleficorum—the secretive brotherhood devoted to hunting witches, and the organization that will help Luke take revenge on the witch who murdered his parents. His final test is to pick a name at random from the Book of Witches, a name he must track down and kill within a month, or face death himself. Luke picks out 16-year-old Rosa Greenwood, a witch-girl living in rapidly fading grandeur on the west side of town. She's the last bargaining chip in her family's struggle to avoid bankruptcy and is about to be married off to the handsome, cruel, grotesquely rich Sebastian Knyvet—a powerful member of the Ealdwitan. As Rosa and Luke get to know each other, Luke realizes it will be impossible for him to kill Rosa, just as Rosa knows she will bring disgrace on her family if she does not marry Knyvet. But Knyvet is hiding dark secrets—including the key which will unlock the mystery of Luke's murdered parents. Torn between appeasing their elders and their growing affection for each other, Rosa and Luke must each make their choice between life and death.

Ruth Warburton studied English at the University of Manchester, and developed a fascination with Old English and Middle English texts. She is the author of the successful Winter Trilogy and a publicist for adult fiction at Random House.