Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold

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A collection of re-interpreted ancient folk tales, from the British isles— Cornwall, Wales, Fens, Yorkshire etc—written by contemporary authors. The first tale is 'A Retelling' by Daisy Johnson, tackling the tale of the Green Children through a combination of magical realism and meta-fiction. I've quite enjoyed these and I'm glad I listened rather than read them because I might have missed Professor Carolyne Larrington's talks with the authors.

I've been working my way slowly through Fen and not wanting it to end - Daisy marries realism to the uncanny so well that the strangest turnings ring as truth. Literally like the Dauntless Girl and The Brothers (or Sisters I guess, girl power amirite) bear no similarity whatsoever to the source stories unless they're like fucking origin stories, the Panther's Tale (one of the only ones I sort of somewhat liked) springs from a tiny snippet of folklore about how a noble house got its motto, and the Fairy Midwife is just. As I grew up, this love for the wyrd and eerie remained, but I began to appreciate how this edge could be reinvented time upon time. Acc to Carolyne Larrington in the introduction, The British and Irish folktale traditions slipped away between the 18th and 19th centuries while other fairytales like the Grimms and Andersens’ with strict morals became popular.

She keeps all the bare bones of the original story, in which the Tudor courtier Sir John Giffard kills the panther from his menagerie of curious animals before it can attack a woman and child. I didn't like Chlo as a person, but it was really interesting seeing the relationship between the sisters without them actually being close. In Hag a range of brilliant female authors from Britain and Ireland were assigned a folktale and given free rein on how to adapt it. Hag' is a collection curated by Professor Carolyne Larrington, and while it was interesting to read the stories, I really enjoyed reading the introduction as well. I would rate it five stars if not for the inclusion of Eimear McBride’s The Tale Of Kathleen which is one of the smarmiest, look-how-cleverly-I’m-deconstructing-these-tropes stories I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading.

DARK, POTENT AND UNCANNY, HAG BURSTS WITH THE UNTOLD STORIES OF OUR ISLES, CAPTURED IN VOICES AS VARIED AS THEY ARE VIVID. Hag swarms with mermaids, boggarts and shape-shifters but it also explores the hopes and visceral dreads from which those creatures emerged in the human imagination. Eimear McBride on the other hand tells the story of Kathleen almost as is, albeit with some stunning prose stylings mixed in.

They start working on renovating and also how to make a profit from selling cheese and milk and the likes. Whilst they do hang together well as a collection, many of the stories have a rather half-baked quality and the links to the original folklore are tenuous and uninspired in places. The eeriness of the story really draws you in, but I think the shortness means it falls flat as there's not much time to really carve out a solid, captivating ending. The books featured on this site are aimed primarily at readers aged 13 or above and therefore you must be 13 years or over to sign up to our newsletter. Irenosen Okojie’s Rosheen is based on the Norfolk tale of The Dauntless Girl, but the eponymous protagonist is Okojie’s creation.

Being buried alive, domestic abuse, miscarriage, infertility, infidelity, racism, abuse, shame of single parents, cancer, eye gouging, death and more. I was on an edge throughout because of the way it was told but the twist wasn't as great as it was built out to be.Personally I preferred the unambiguously paranormal stories, like the Selkie boy or The Panther’s Tale, to the more realistic and emotionally wrenching tales (I wanted fae intrigue and creepy horror! These stories were wonderful imagined, some stronger than others but as a whole I thoroughly enjoyed the ride!

The Panther's Tale' by Mahsuda Snaith, based on the tale around Chillington House, was beautifully imaginative and a real surprise. These stories in most instances were brought into much more modern day scenarios, and many took on elements of magical realism to tell their stories, whilst others remained grounded in more everyday scenarios. Hag is an anthology of stories responding to classic folk tales from the British Isles, penned by some of the most exciting women writing in Britain and Ireland today. Eimar McBride’s The Tale of Kathleen is a relatively unembellished version of a folktale from Ireland which pits against each other Christian belief and fairie traditions. Some general thoughts: these stories are totally accessible even if you have no idea what they are based on (like I did), which I think is no mean feat.When it's time for Lowan to pay the cost, he comes up with something completely unexpected and things turn around for him. Grace and Maya are twins but they are completely different from each other except for the way they look. From the islands of Scotland to the coast of Cornwall, the mountains of Galway to the depths of the Fens, these forgotten folktales howl, cackle, and sing their way into the 21st century, wildly reimagined by some of the most exciting women writing in Britain and Ireland today. Without the separation of episodes, it feels a little same-y to have two stories both commenting on the nature of storytelling in this way.