The mythic Hag of Béara reawakens to find older women now ignored and marginalised. Devotional talismans left at her altar unlock fourteen stories:

• a young doctor inherits a strange and troubling patient (‘What Happens At The End,’ winner of the Paul Cave Prize for Literature 2024)
• a pregnant woman becomes enmeshed in a fertility cult (‘Witchwalking,’ on US editor Ellen Datlow’s Recommended Reading List for 2024)
• a domestic abuse survivor finds refuge in water (‘The Women In The Water,’ shortlisted for the London Independent Story Prize 2024).

The Hag listens to these stories, and as she does, her own wounds reopen. Can the narrators – and the Hag herself – find liberation and healing?

Ideal for fans of Sharon Blackie’s Hagitude, Kirsty Logan’s A Portable Shelter and Daisy Johnson’s A Retelling.

Reviews:

... a triumphant exploration of the multifaceted experience of womanhood seen through the lens of Irish mythology ... (Priya Sharma, winner of Shirley Jackson, British Fantasy & World Fantasy awards)

... a remarkable collection of tales woven into a framing story that feels at once ancient and modern. Fahey's mastery of language and emotion is on full display here, along with her innate ability to gather both wild Irish folklore and resilient, powerful female characters ... (Eden Royce, author of the Shirley Jackson Award-winning Hollow Tongue)

... a phenomenal achievement – tender and fierce and quietly passionate, and meticulously constructed (Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Night Babies)