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Barren
In time, we are never alone.
Two grieving women are connected across time when the forces of nature activate a magical bronze axe they both possess, opening a portal through which they view each other's worlds. When it becomes clear they both need saving, a way must be found to heal the calamities in both their worlds – before time runs out.
***
In present day California, pregnant Irish emigrant Aisling looks forward to becoming a mother. A sudden miscarriage leaves her devastated, but her unborn daughter's spirit chooses to stay with her offering unheard comfort.
In Neolithic Ireland, huntress Zosime worries another lost pregnancy will diminish her standing in the tribe. When a comet strikes, bringing plague and famine, Zosime embarks on an odyssey to find a way to save her tribe – taking her magical bronze axe which contains the history of her tribe.
The axe is also in Aisling's possession, for both women are from Armagh, separated by thousands of years. When an earthquake activates its powers – suddenly Aisling can see through time and space. Connected to her unborn daughter's spirit and the axe, somehow she can view Zosime's desperate plight. However, the connection means her daughter is trapped between worlds, fading and powerless.
Unless Aisling can trust her new powers and discover the secrets of the axe, her daughter's spirit, Zosime, and the woman's tribe, might be lost forever.
Praise for Barren:
‘Barren is an engrossing, immersive and wonderfully constructed novel. Byddi's talent as a storyteller matches her astonishing ambition. This is a deeply impressive blend of the contemporary and the speculative; readers will be engrossed, moved, transported and left waiting impatiently for the next Byddi Lee book to land.’
Donal Ryan, EU Prize for Literature
‘A story that connects across time, humanity and eternity. Of loss, love and finding lights when our world falls dark.’ Sue Divin, award-winning author of Guard Your Heart and Truth Be Told
‘A dynamic narrative, where two worlds collide in a story that is full of insight and integrity. An astonishingly authentic exploration of infertility and its impact on who we are and how we navigate our lives.’ Cathy Carson, author of Becoming Marvellous Winner - Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show
‘Imagine you are holding a piece of Irish oak in your hands and seeing that the tree rings testify to a catastrophe over four thousand years ago. The people living in Ireland would have suffered cruelly from cold and crop failure as a result of several years of diminished sunlight. Wouldn’t you wonder what it would have meant to have lived in those times? Byddi
Two women, two eras that are over four thousand years apart. Yet the stories of Aisling and Zosime are entwined and they can help one another overcome grief. For Aisling, her loss is personal, a baby who would have been called Poppy. And for Zosime it is communal. Told in a highly original fashion, with beautiful, empathetic prose, Barren is filled with so much love that its tale of a journey through calamity and loss is a joy and a life-affirming one.’
Conor Kostick, award-winning historian and writer, author of the Avatar Chronicles trilogy.
‘A story of connection across the millennia as well as between worlds: the world we know and the world we can only guess at. This book will be a gift to so many, a consolation and a comfort to those who have lost, who long to parent, and who still find a way to go on.’
Bernie McGill, Winner of the 2023 Edge Hill Prize
Two grieving women are connected across time when the forces of nature activate a magical bronze axe they both possess, opening a portal through which they view each other's worlds. When it becomes clear they both need saving, a way must be found to heal the calamities in both their worlds – before time runs out.
***
In present day California, pregnant Irish emigrant Aisling looks forward to becoming a mother. A sudden miscarriage leaves her devastated, but her unborn daughter's spirit chooses to stay with her offering unheard comfort.
In Neolithic Ireland, huntress Zosime worries another lost pregnancy will diminish her standing in the tribe. When a comet strikes, bringing plague and famine, Zosime embarks on an odyssey to find a way to save her tribe – taking her magical bronze axe which contains the history of her tribe.
The axe is also in Aisling's possession, for both women are from Armagh, separated by thousands of years. When an earthquake activates its powers – suddenly Aisling can see through time and space. Connected to her unborn daughter's spirit and the axe, somehow she can view Zosime's desperate plight. However, the connection means her daughter is trapped between worlds, fading and powerless.
Unless Aisling can trust her new powers and discover the secrets of the axe, her daughter's spirit, Zosime, and the woman's tribe, might be lost forever.
Praise for Barren:
‘Barren is an engrossing, immersive and wonderfully constructed novel. Byddi's talent as a storyteller matches her astonishing ambition. This is a deeply impressive blend of the contemporary and the speculative; readers will be engrossed, moved, transported and left waiting impatiently for the next Byddi Lee book to land.’
Donal Ryan, EU Prize for Literature
‘A story that connects across time, humanity and eternity. Of loss, love and finding lights when our world falls dark.’ Sue Divin, award-winning author of Guard Your Heart and Truth Be Told
‘A dynamic narrative, where two worlds collide in a story that is full of insight and integrity. An astonishingly authentic exploration of infertility and its impact on who we are and how we navigate our lives.’ Cathy Carson, author of Becoming Marvellous Winner - Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show
‘Imagine you are holding a piece of Irish oak in your hands and seeing that the tree rings testify to a catastrophe over four thousand years ago. The people living in Ireland would have suffered cruelly from cold and crop failure as a result of several years of diminished sunlight. Wouldn’t you wonder what it would have meant to have lived in those times? Byddi
Two women, two eras that are over four thousand years apart. Yet the stories of Aisling and Zosime are entwined and they can help one another overcome grief. For Aisling, her loss is personal, a baby who would have been called Poppy. And for Zosime it is communal. Told in a highly original fashion, with beautiful, empathetic prose, Barren is filled with so much love that its tale of a journey through calamity and loss is a joy and a life-affirming one.’
Conor Kostick, award-winning historian and writer, author of the Avatar Chronicles trilogy.
‘A story of connection across the millennia as well as between worlds: the world we know and the world we can only guess at. This book will be a gift to so many, a consolation and a comfort to those who have lost, who long to parent, and who still find a way to go on.’
Bernie McGill, Winner of the 2023 Edge Hill Prize
281 pages, Paperback
Published March 11, 2025
3 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Byddi Lee
13 books25 followersByddi Lee is the author of "Barren" (Seanchai Books, 2025), "Rejuvenation", a speculative fiction trilogy (first published by Castrum Press, 2020) and "March to November" (Seanchai Books, 2014). She has published flash fiction, short stories, and co-founded and manages Flash Fiction Armagh, shortlisted as Best Regular Spoken Word Night in the Saboteur Awards, and co-edited "The Bramley – An Anthology of Flash Fiction Armagh", Volumes 1 and 2. Byddi also writes for stage and screen and is a member of BBC Writersroom Voices 23. She is an Arts Council Northern Ireland supported writer and holds professional membership at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin and the Society of Authors, UK.
For more information, visit www.ByddiLee.com.
For more information, visit www.ByddiLee.com.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 22, 2025
If you want to read a conventional Irish litfic novel about some young Trinity student who drinks too much, shags the wrong men who don't love her and makes the odd reference to climate change and the housing crisis in between long soliloquies of imagined unhappiness, this might not be the book for you.
If, on the other hand, you want to read a stirring story set in Armagh now and thousands of years ago, which puts climate breakdown front and centre without sacrificing story or character, and also synthesises it with the private heartbreak of infertility, then I cannot recommend this book more highly.
Lee has done something which I haven't seen done before in Irish fiction, in any genre, which is to make the climate crisis the beating heart of the book rather than something referred to in asides, or transmuted into some literary device (such as the crack in the sky in Catherine Prasifka's first novel, one which I did enjoy reading, don't get me wrong, but which did not interrogate the outward circumstances the way they are done here through history.)
This novel is broadly a dual-time narrative often seen in historical fiction, but this narrative reaches far back enough through the dendritic rings and ice levels studied in the Armagh Observatory to be almost pre-historic. In the present day Aisling is in the US, has just miscarried, and has an urge to return home. She hears her lost child, Poppy, trying to communicate with her but cannot explain this to her husband, Ben. Through the splintering of a geode crystal indirectly due to an earthquake, the timeline is ripped up and a hole exposed.
But the real power of Barren is that of the ancient story of Zosime, the huntress, whose entire village is plunged into chaos when a catastrophic climatic event occurs and affects the area around Armagh (which is not called Armagh back then obviously.) Through these series of events, which did occur, we see the absolute horror that climate breakdown can inflict upon a subsisting society, when the weather is cold, the seeds rot in their beds and the animals perish. There is also a frightening depiction of a disease epidemic [spoiler] which turns out to be measles, something particularly disquieting given the outbreaks currently in the US where children are dying because their parents refuse to vaccinate.[/spoiler]
Zosime, too, struggles with infertility and fears losing her husband Nereus - but by the time the cold weather is entrenched and the villagers are starving, she has more urgent priorities. As the rest of the story unfolds, it's pretty brutal and heartbreaking, and the cruelty of strangers in times of peril is sadly well illuminated. In our time, globalism protects some of us from some of this, but we have seen the fires rage and the floods cause chaos, and we know that protection against climate breakdown is limited. There is also a part of the story that outlines the brutality of people-smuggling, and the details are only too relevant to today.
What I love about this novel is that it is unafraid to be boldly thematic and engaging. By avoiding being a narrow character-study, it actually produces characters who are believable and relatable. At first the women's barren state and the barren state of the land are linked, but as the narrative moves on, the idea of abundance is altered and transformed.
Publishing and the commentariat need to be more open to books like this, simply because we need more fiction like this which illuminates the way for us.
I received an electronic copy from the author and am leaving this honest review in response.
If, on the other hand, you want to read a stirring story set in Armagh now and thousands of years ago, which puts climate breakdown front and centre without sacrificing story or character, and also synthesises it with the private heartbreak of infertility, then I cannot recommend this book more highly.
Lee has done something which I haven't seen done before in Irish fiction, in any genre, which is to make the climate crisis the beating heart of the book rather than something referred to in asides, or transmuted into some literary device (such as the crack in the sky in Catherine Prasifka's first novel, one which I did enjoy reading, don't get me wrong, but which did not interrogate the outward circumstances the way they are done here through history.)
This novel is broadly a dual-time narrative often seen in historical fiction, but this narrative reaches far back enough through the dendritic rings and ice levels studied in the Armagh Observatory to be almost pre-historic. In the present day Aisling is in the US, has just miscarried, and has an urge to return home. She hears her lost child, Poppy, trying to communicate with her but cannot explain this to her husband, Ben. Through the splintering of a geode crystal indirectly due to an earthquake, the timeline is ripped up and a hole exposed.
But the real power of Barren is that of the ancient story of Zosime, the huntress, whose entire village is plunged into chaos when a catastrophic climatic event occurs and affects the area around Armagh (which is not called Armagh back then obviously.) Through these series of events, which did occur, we see the absolute horror that climate breakdown can inflict upon a subsisting society, when the weather is cold, the seeds rot in their beds and the animals perish. There is also a frightening depiction of a disease epidemic [spoiler] which turns out to be measles, something particularly disquieting given the outbreaks currently in the US where children are dying because their parents refuse to vaccinate.[/spoiler]
Zosime, too, struggles with infertility and fears losing her husband Nereus - but by the time the cold weather is entrenched and the villagers are starving, she has more urgent priorities. As the rest of the story unfolds, it's pretty brutal and heartbreaking, and the cruelty of strangers in times of peril is sadly well illuminated. In our time, globalism protects some of us from some of this, but we have seen the fires rage and the floods cause chaos, and we know that protection against climate breakdown is limited. There is also a part of the story that outlines the brutality of people-smuggling, and the details are only too relevant to today.
What I love about this novel is that it is unafraid to be boldly thematic and engaging. By avoiding being a narrow character-study, it actually produces characters who are believable and relatable. At first the women's barren state and the barren state of the land are linked, but as the narrative moves on, the idea of abundance is altered and transformed.
Publishing and the commentariat need to be more open to books like this, simply because we need more fiction like this which illuminates the way for us.
I received an electronic copy from the author and am leaving this honest review in response.
April 4, 2025
Throughout reading ‘Barren’ I was completely blown away by the gorgeous writing. The prose is breathtakingly beautiful and descriptive, creating an immersive experience that pulls you in from the very first page. The way tension builds throughout the story makes it impossible to put down.
The story follows characters across different timelines. In the present day, Aisling, an Irish immigrant in California, is dealing with the grief of a miscarriage. She begins hearing her lost child, "Poppy," who is trying to communicate with her. One of the most captivating elements is experiencing the world through Poppy's eyes, where things are perceived through colours and the absorption of her mother’s feelings, adding a uniquely beautiful dimension to the storytelling.
In prehistoric Ireland, we meet Zosime, a huntress whose village is struck by a comet, leading her to embark on a perilous journey to save her tribe. The research into ancient climatic events is clear and woven throughout.
What makes the novel unique is how it places climate issues at its core. Set in both present-day and prehistoric Armagh, the story weaves together environmental catastrophe and deeply personal struggles effortlessly.
The parallel between the women's struggle with infertility and the barrenness of the land is brilliantly intertwined. As Zosime's community faces starvation, disease and struggle, it is cruel and heartbreaking. These depictions feel very relevant to today's world, where climate issues such as fire and floods, become more common throughout the world.
What I loved most was how the chapters alternate between these timelines. Through a mysterious connection, Aisling and Zosime help each other heal and grow. The dual-timeline structure works perfectly, keeping you completely hooked on both worlds in equal measure.
The deeply personal topic of infertility is handled with incredible care and respect, while simultaneously addressing urgent global concerns like climate change.
Books like this need to be read and appreciated for the masterful writing and thought-provoking narratives that deal with and explore real-world issues with finesse.
The story follows characters across different timelines. In the present day, Aisling, an Irish immigrant in California, is dealing with the grief of a miscarriage. She begins hearing her lost child, "Poppy," who is trying to communicate with her. One of the most captivating elements is experiencing the world through Poppy's eyes, where things are perceived through colours and the absorption of her mother’s feelings, adding a uniquely beautiful dimension to the storytelling.
In prehistoric Ireland, we meet Zosime, a huntress whose village is struck by a comet, leading her to embark on a perilous journey to save her tribe. The research into ancient climatic events is clear and woven throughout.
What makes the novel unique is how it places climate issues at its core. Set in both present-day and prehistoric Armagh, the story weaves together environmental catastrophe and deeply personal struggles effortlessly.
The parallel between the women's struggle with infertility and the barrenness of the land is brilliantly intertwined. As Zosime's community faces starvation, disease and struggle, it is cruel and heartbreaking. These depictions feel very relevant to today's world, where climate issues such as fire and floods, become more common throughout the world.
What I loved most was how the chapters alternate between these timelines. Through a mysterious connection, Aisling and Zosime help each other heal and grow. The dual-timeline structure works perfectly, keeping you completely hooked on both worlds in equal measure.
The deeply personal topic of infertility is handled with incredible care and respect, while simultaneously addressing urgent global concerns like climate change.
Books like this need to be read and appreciated for the masterful writing and thought-provoking narratives that deal with and explore real-world issues with finesse.
July 18, 2025
The title of Barren makes reference to both the threads of infertility and climate change within the storyline, whilst weaving between two non-mothers in two different moments of history - in many ways, showing how little has changed around the pursuit of motherhood for women across the millenia.
Aisling is pregnant and living in contemporary California at the outset of the novel - but she loses her baby to a miscarriage and, in the midst of her grief, Poppy (her unborn daughter’s spirit) reaches out to comfort her. After surviving an earthquake, she and her husband then return home to Ireland. In addition, we meet Zosime, who is also going through the experience of pregnancy loss back in the era of Neolithic Ireland. When a comet strikes her community, Zosime sets out to find a way to save her tribe – along with a magical bronze axe. Back in the present day, this axe had ended up in Aisling’s possession - the Californian earthquake activate its powers and suddenly Aisling can see back through time and space, and is able to witness Zosime. The women develop a connection across time - an understanding of each other's losses that helps them to heal, and may also save Zosime and her tribe.
Zosime expresses a particular fear that, without children to outlive her, she will be forgotten and her story will be lost in time - a concern that still echoes in many ways even in the present day of Aisling, when so much of womanhood and female legacy is still defined by motherhood. However, the narrative is a beautiful reminder of how women without children can bear testimony to each other's histories and pass on our stories - both those we stand with now and those who came before us.
Aisling is pregnant and living in contemporary California at the outset of the novel - but she loses her baby to a miscarriage and, in the midst of her grief, Poppy (her unborn daughter’s spirit) reaches out to comfort her. After surviving an earthquake, she and her husband then return home to Ireland. In addition, we meet Zosime, who is also going through the experience of pregnancy loss back in the era of Neolithic Ireland. When a comet strikes her community, Zosime sets out to find a way to save her tribe – along with a magical bronze axe. Back in the present day, this axe had ended up in Aisling’s possession - the Californian earthquake activate its powers and suddenly Aisling can see back through time and space, and is able to witness Zosime. The women develop a connection across time - an understanding of each other's losses that helps them to heal, and may also save Zosime and her tribe.
Zosime expresses a particular fear that, without children to outlive her, she will be forgotten and her story will be lost in time - a concern that still echoes in many ways even in the present day of Aisling, when so much of womanhood and female legacy is still defined by motherhood. However, the narrative is a beautiful reminder of how women without children can bear testimony to each other's histories and pass on our stories - both those we stand with now and those who came before us.
April 10, 2025
In this beautifully crafted novel, we journey alongside two compelling women. Zosime, living in the Bronze Age, is a vital member of her ancient community and bears the weight of responsibility and tradition, yet battles with infertility, upending her sense of purpose and place in a world where survival depends on family and connections. Meanwhile, Aisling is navigating a contemporary life in modern day U.S. and Ireland, and finds herself wrestling with expectations, isolation and a search for meaning in her journey towards a family. Although separated by time, both women share the deeply human struggle – a longing for motherhood and the societal pressures that define womanhood through fertility.
The author skilfully, authentically and with no lack of imagination, brings the two women together in a way where they can ultimately offer each other love and support with what are timeless challenges. For me, the key themes in this novel are around identity, resilience and the private, quiet strength required to redefine our roles in the world. An affecting and thought-provoking read.
The author skilfully, authentically and with no lack of imagination, brings the two women together in a way where they can ultimately offer each other love and support with what are timeless challenges. For me, the key themes in this novel are around identity, resilience and the private, quiet strength required to redefine our roles in the world. An affecting and thought-provoking read.
September 22, 2025
I loved this book. It’s on an unusual topic with an unusual format and written in a unique way. I might not have picked it up but I’m so glad I did.
In the form of a dual narrative, it tells the story of Aisling, a modern-day woman dealing with the aftermath of a miscarriage and coming to terms with the harsh fact that she can’t have children and the story of Zosime, a woman who lived in 2400BC, and who is also dealing with infertility in the context of major climatic upheavals. The book makes a striking connection between the impacts of climate change (with two very different causes) on people and societies as it traces the thread of humanity that runs unbroken through the millennia.
The writing is beautiful and intelligent and I recommend the book highly.
In the form of a dual narrative, it tells the story of Aisling, a modern-day woman dealing with the aftermath of a miscarriage and coming to terms with the harsh fact that she can’t have children and the story of Zosime, a woman who lived in 2400BC, and who is also dealing with infertility in the context of major climatic upheavals. The book makes a striking connection between the impacts of climate change (with two very different causes) on people and societies as it traces the thread of humanity that runs unbroken through the millennia.
The writing is beautiful and intelligent and I recommend the book highly.
May 7, 2025
It's such a cool concept. Two women separated by thousands of years, so far apart their worlds and times would be alien to each other. Yet they’re connected by an experience that often isolates, is rarely discussed, but is understood across time. It does not shy away from the experience of loss. At times tender and tough, but necessary. I can’t remember a story covering the impact of infertility as well as Barren.
Split between modern day and ancient Ireland. I particularly enjoyed the old world scenes when characters imposed supernatural reasoning to natural events.
A wonderful story, beautifully told.
Split between modern day and ancient Ireland. I particularly enjoyed the old world scenes when characters imposed supernatural reasoning to natural events.
A wonderful story, beautifully told.
Currently Reading
April 21, 2025A beautifully written, exceptionally well crafted story curving through the lives of two women connected in time by their similar experiences, and by other powerful forces delicately outlined by the Author. A book which will unite readers in understanding the microscopic and macroscopic issues which many in the world face today, and which can only increase the courage, understanding, empathy and strength of any reader. A truly inspirational read!
July 20, 2025
This is a compelling story of two women and their lives filled with love and loss, acceptance and strength. Their heartbreaking loss forms their connection through time. It is beautifully written, a book that I couldn’t put down. I haven’t been as captivated by a book in quite a number of years. I loved it.
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October 8, 2025I had to DNF p120. I’m not rating this book as I don’t think I’m the right audience for this type of read but I can see how others would enjoy it. Love to see an Irish historical setting ☘️
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews