Harvest Home

Harvest Home is a 1973 folk horror novel by American writer Thomas Tryon. A New York Times bestseller, the book became an NBC mini-series in 1978 titled The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, which starred Bette Davis (as Mary Fortune) and David Ackroyd (as Nick Constantine). The miniseries was generally faithful to the plot of the book; however, the name of the protagonist was changed in the film from Ned Constantine to Nick Constantine. Plot Ned Constantine, his wife Bethany ("Beth"), and their daughter Kate relocate from New York City to an isolated Connecticut village, Cornwall Coombe, where the villagers adhere to "the old ways", eschewing modern agricultural methods and having extremely limited contact with the outside world. As one says, "we don't mess with other folks and we expect them not to mess with us." The villagers celebrate a number of festivals that revolve around the cultivation of corn. The most important festival is "Harvest Home", which takes place once every seven years. Ned befriends Robert Dodd, a former college professor, who is now blind and largely homebound. Like Ned, Robert was once an outsider who moved to Cornwall Coombe at the behest of his wife Maggie, who was born in the village. Ned also meets, among others, Justin Hooke, who serves as the current ceremonial "Harvest Lord"; Justin's wife, Sophie, his chosen "Corn Maiden" in the approaching "Corn Play"; and Worthy Pettinger, a young man whose dream of going to agricultural college are frustrated by his parents, who hold to the old ways. The most important person in the village is Mary Fortune. Known as "Widow", the village herbalist and midwife, she herself is childless and has been a widow since the long ago death of her husband, Clem. On two separate occasions when Kate suffers a severe asthma attack, the Widow Fortune saves her life. She later prescribes home remedies which cure Kate entirely. Beth and Kate grow to adore the Widow, but Ned is suspicious of her herbal medicines and finds her unquestioned influence over the town troubling. Meanwhile, Worthy is chosen as the next "Harvest Lord" who will replace Justin at the end of his seven years of service. Worthy does not wish to become the Harvest Lord, confusing Ned, who understood the title to be an honor. At church, Worthy shouts out a curse upon the corn before fleeing. The Widow announces that Worthy is henceforth "bane" and will be shunned by the village if he ever returns.