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How long does it take to read Witch Wood?

John Buchan

Witch Wood by John Buchan takes about 6 hours 18 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 6 hours 18 minutes

A weekend read

First published 1927. 344 pages, about 94,600 words.

13 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 10 hours 31 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 6 hours 18 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 3 hours 57 minutes

The page count is the median across 219 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

Set against the religious struggles and civil wars of seventeenth century Scotland, John Buchan's Witch Wood is a gripping atmospheric tale in the spirit of Stevenson and Neil Munro. As a moderate presbyterian minister, young David Sempill disputes with the extremists of his faith, as all around, the defeated remnants of Montrose's men are being harried and slaughtered. There are still older conflicts to be faced however, symbolised by the presence of the Melanudrigall Wood, a last remnant of the ancient Caledonian forest. Here there is black magic to be uncovered, but also the more positive pre-Christian intimations of nature worship. In such setting, and faced with the onset of the plague, David Sempill's struggle and eventual disappearance take on a strange and timeless aspect in what was John Buchan's own favourite among his many novels.

Subjects: Fiction, historical, Clergy, fiction, Fiction, historical, general, Fiction, fantasy, general, Fiction, horror, Witchcraft

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