Savage Her Reply

A dark and witchy feminist retelling of the Irish fairytale, The Children of Lir – from the author of the multi-award-winning Tangleweed and Brine . Aífe is a witch, a stepmother, and a woman pushed to the edge. When she marries Lir, a powerful chieftain, she finds herself living in the shadow of his four beloved children – and of the wife he lost. Consumed by jealousy, grief and rage, Aífe commits an unforgivable act, transforming the children into swans cursed to wander for nine hundred years. But this is not the story you think you know. Told in Aífe’s own voice, Savage Her Reply is unsettling and lyrical, brutal and beautiful – a story about female anger, motherhood, guilt and the cost of being silenced. As Aífe reckons with the consequences of her magic, she forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: monsters are often made, not born. Perfect for fans of dark fairy-tale retellings, Irish mythology and feminist YA fantasy, this is a spellbinding novel that will linger long after the final page. ‘No-one else writes like Deirdre Sullivan. She is lyrical, poetic and thoroughly intoxicating.’ – Juno Dawson ‘Unsettling, haunting, and darkly lyrical’ Louise O’Neill

A dark and witchy feminist retelling of the Irish fairytale, The Children of Lir – from the author of the multi-award-winning Tangleweed and Brine . Aífe is a witch, a stepmother, and a woman pushed to the edge. When she marries Lir, a powerful chieftain, she finds herself living in the shadow of his four beloved children – and of the wife he lost. Consumed by jealousy, grief and rage, Aífe commits an unforgivable act, transforming the children into swans cursed to wander for nine hundred years. But this is not the story you think you know. Told in Aífe’s own voice, Savage Her Reply is unsettling and lyrical, brutal and beautiful – a story about female anger, motherhood, guilt and the cost of being silenced. As Aífe reckons with the consequences of her magic, she forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: monsters are often made, not born. Perfect for fans of dark fairy-tale retellings, Irish mythology and feminist YA fantasy, this is a spellbinding novel that will linger long after the final page. ‘No-one else writes like Deirdre Sullivan. She is lyrical, poetic and thoroughly intoxicating.’ – Juno Dawson ‘Unsettling, haunting, and darkly lyrical’ Louise O’Neill