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Banshee: Mythological Irish Women Retold
'A dazzling modern mythology of our oldest stories, richly imagined by the very best of Irish writers' DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA, author of A Ghost in the Throat
'Dark, lyrical and exhilarating, these stories feel both timeless and urgently modern' LOUISE O'NEILL, author of Idol
Featuring new and original stories
Jane Casey Sunday Times bestselling author of Cruel Acts | Naoise Dolan Sunday Times bestselling author of Exciting Times | Salma El-Wardany Critically acclaimed author of These Impossible Things | Wendy Erskine Gordon Burn Prize-longlisted author of The Benefactors | Nikita Gill Sunday Times bestselling author of Hekate | Anne Griffin Irish Times bestselling author of Listening Still | Sarah Maria Griffin Award-winning author of Spare and Found Parts | Jess Kidd International award-winning author of Things in Jars | Megan Nolan Sunday Times bestselling author of Acts of Desperation | Sheila O'Flanagan Sunday Times bestselling author of The Honeymoon Affair
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In this spellbinding anthology, Ireland's most electrifying female writers breathe new life into ancient Irish myths, reclaiming the stories of women who have too long stood in the shadows of warriors and kings.
Editor and journalist Ailbhe Malone was raised on these legends - but the women, always cast as mothers, warriors or witches, were never given the lead. And so, Banshee was not just a retelling but a radical reclamation.
Banshee transports you to treacherous landscapes and salt-crashing seas, generational curses and mystical islands. Here you'll find unruly mothers, rule-breaking queens, and women outrunning their destiny - stories pulsing with desire, danger and defiance.
This is a celebration of womanhood - and an homage to the ancient stories that still shape us.
'Dark, lyrical and exhilarating, these stories feel both timeless and urgently modern' LOUISE O'NEILL, author of Idol
Featuring new and original stories
Jane Casey Sunday Times bestselling author of Cruel Acts | Naoise Dolan Sunday Times bestselling author of Exciting Times | Salma El-Wardany Critically acclaimed author of These Impossible Things | Wendy Erskine Gordon Burn Prize-longlisted author of The Benefactors | Nikita Gill Sunday Times bestselling author of Hekate | Anne Griffin Irish Times bestselling author of Listening Still | Sarah Maria Griffin Award-winning author of Spare and Found Parts | Jess Kidd International award-winning author of Things in Jars | Megan Nolan Sunday Times bestselling author of Acts of Desperation | Sheila O'Flanagan Sunday Times bestselling author of The Honeymoon Affair
______________
In this spellbinding anthology, Ireland's most electrifying female writers breathe new life into ancient Irish myths, reclaiming the stories of women who have too long stood in the shadows of warriors and kings.
Editor and journalist Ailbhe Malone was raised on these legends - but the women, always cast as mothers, warriors or witches, were never given the lead. And so, Banshee was not just a retelling but a radical reclamation.
Banshee transports you to treacherous landscapes and salt-crashing seas, generational curses and mystical islands. Here you'll find unruly mothers, rule-breaking queens, and women outrunning their destiny - stories pulsing with desire, danger and defiance.
This is a celebration of womanhood - and an homage to the ancient stories that still shape us.
231 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 26, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 24, 2026
*Saoirse Ronan voice* Irish women — !!!!
May 3, 2026
Absolutely phenomenal retellings of classics - personal fave has to be the retelling of the Children of Lir as obnoxious drama school kids
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March 21, 2026Short stories that don’t shy away from the violence continually inflicted on women by men and patriarchal societies. Not a frolicking retelling of Irish myths, if that’s what you’re looking for!
February 21, 2026
I looooved this collection of short stories. Naoise Dolan’s, Sheila O’Flahagan’s and Salma El-Wardany’s were my standouts that I keep thinking about. I know embarrassingly little Irish folklore so this was a delight through and through. 4.5
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Editor Ailbhe Malone writes in her introduction about how the traditional Irish tales of her childhood, despite sometimes being named for their female characters, often seem to be portrayed with no interiority or agency. This collection gathers traditional Irish myths and hands them to a powerhouse lineup of modern Irish writers. The brief is clear… put the women of Irish folklore front and centre, and they all deliver.
Full disclosure, I went in knowing none of the original myths. That didn’t diminish the experience at all, though people familiar with them might read differently. The stories stand on their own two feet, while still having a feel of folklore about them. You don’t need a mythology degree… just a willingness to lean into the weird. For me, not having any prior knowledge made the collection feel even more immersive.
Throughout the collection we visit salt-lashed coasts, forbidden forests and even modern-day Dublin. Each contributor taking their own mythic thread and pulling it in a different direction… in terms of style, tone and time period. Handily, Malone includes a few lines at the beginning which explains the origins of each myth, and I found it really fun to see where each writer took their story using the original as an inspiration. There are both traditional stories and modern interpretations of curses, mermaids and women turning to water.
What I loved most is how varied the interpretations felt. Some stories lean into the folklore aspect, heightening the atmosphere and dread. Others feel more contemporary, rewriting stories that were never originally meant to centre women at all. But they all have a common feeling of defiance.
As you might expect given the strength of Irish lit released in the last few years, the prose across the collection is consistently strong stylistically. There’s lyricism, yes, but also bite. That very specific Irish balance between the eerie and the darkly dry really works.
As always with an anthology, there are some which will inevitably hit harder than others depending on your taste. But the overall quality is impressively high, and the collection felt very cohesive.
Full disclosure, I went in knowing none of the original myths. That didn’t diminish the experience at all, though people familiar with them might read differently. The stories stand on their own two feet, while still having a feel of folklore about them. You don’t need a mythology degree… just a willingness to lean into the weird. For me, not having any prior knowledge made the collection feel even more immersive.
Throughout the collection we visit salt-lashed coasts, forbidden forests and even modern-day Dublin. Each contributor taking their own mythic thread and pulling it in a different direction… in terms of style, tone and time period. Handily, Malone includes a few lines at the beginning which explains the origins of each myth, and I found it really fun to see where each writer took their story using the original as an inspiration. There are both traditional stories and modern interpretations of curses, mermaids and women turning to water.
What I loved most is how varied the interpretations felt. Some stories lean into the folklore aspect, heightening the atmosphere and dread. Others feel more contemporary, rewriting stories that were never originally meant to centre women at all. But they all have a common feeling of defiance.
As you might expect given the strength of Irish lit released in the last few years, the prose across the collection is consistently strong stylistically. There’s lyricism, yes, but also bite. That very specific Irish balance between the eerie and the darkly dry really works.
As always with an anthology, there are some which will inevitably hit harder than others depending on your taste. But the overall quality is impressively high, and the collection felt very cohesive.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews