BOOKS . . . "POISON"

Kathryn Harrison's new novel (Random House; 317 pages; $23) about the Spanish Inquisition is, according to TIME critic John Skow, "very good, and a complete surprise." The story follows the separate torments of two women caught in their society's lunacy. Francisca, a young woman in love with a priest, is found out and routinely and grotesquely tortured; Maria, the new bride of the Spanish king, is tortured in a different way by the couple's inability to produce an heir. Skow notes that although the parallel tales of the two women are a bit awkward, the novel is redeemed by Harrison's chilling prose about women and men trapped in societal malignancy.