The Plague Stone — Gillian White

When three village women each make a wish on a local artifact, their desires come true in unexpected ways The Plague Stone squats at the center of the seemingly tranquil village of Meadcombe, haunted by legends of black magic. One night, three Meadcombe women each make a wish. Widowed Marian prays for the death of her mother-in-law, an unpleasant woman now suffering from dementia. Teenager Melanie yearns to escape the village and, in particular, her selfish, depressed father and her self-indulgently martyred mother. And social-climbing Sonia needs a loan from her despised father-in-law to save her husband's business and their desperately fragile, nouveau-riche lifestyle. By the next morning, all three women's wishes have come true . . . but in a less-than-pleasant fashion. Did chance grant their desires, or are darker forces at work?