Who are the witches in the book green heart?

When in need of new stories, Green starts visiting the so called witches.

There are one for each chapter. The enchanted woman, or so called witches by the villagers, are actually woman who have also lost loved ones, just like the main character.

Because of their new habits, people start believing that they are witches, but in fact, those are just grieving widows.

some sort of sound device i believe.