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The Burning of Bridget Cleary
The sensational story of the disappearance of a young woman from her home in rural Tipperary in 1895 and the discovery of her body in a shallow grave, burned and tortured. In this lurid incident, we witness the collision of town and country, of superstition and skepticism.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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2003 people want to read
About the author
Angela Bourke
21 books20 followersA Dublin native educated at University College, Dublin and Univ. de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest (France), Bourke has taught at Harvard, University of Minnesota, University College, Dublin . Her Salt Water won the Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction in 1992, and The Burning of Bridget Cleary won The Irish Times Non-Fiction Award in 1999 and the American Conference of Irish Studies (ACIS) James S. Donnelly Prize in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 133 reviews
April 19, 2023
Why I chose to read this book:
1. I loved reading Hannah Kent's book The Good People (See my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). In it, she acknowledges referencing The Burning of Bridget Cleary in her Author's Note. Sounded interesting! and,
2. April 2023 is my "True Crime" Month.
Praises:
1. a very well-researched narrative outlining the horrific death of Bridget Cleary by the hands of her husband and several relatives, claiming that the "fairies took her away". The search for her body, the arrests, the trial, and eventually, the sentencing of those involved, are also covered in great detail;
2. the book contains several pages of black & white photos, a Family Tree, a Chronology from March 1895 to July 1895, and two pages of maps;
3. author Angela Bourke describes who fairies are in folklore, how they originated, what they are capable of, and how to "rid" someone of their possession; and,
4. Bourke gives a historical background as to who the typical victims and accused were regarding fairy-legend, and how the key players in this story were sucked into it.
Niggles:
1. although interesting information is revealed as the story unfolds, oftentimes this read like a textbook; and,
2. Bourke included historic portions that were not directly related to the book's subject, leading me to skim through several pages. At times, I thought I'd need toothpicks to prop open my eyelids!
Overall Thoughts:
Domestic violence at its worst! Let's blame it on the fairies!
During a time of great social, economic, and cultural change in Ireland, educated, modern-day-thinking people were at odds with "backwards quacks", especially when it came to stigmatized family, friends, and neighbors. When so-called "educated" people wouldn't help during their time of need, who could a person turn to? Were some of these people wrongly convicted?
As in any true crime story, there are no winners.
1. I loved reading Hannah Kent's book The Good People (See my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). In it, she acknowledges referencing The Burning of Bridget Cleary in her Author's Note. Sounded interesting! and,
2. April 2023 is my "True Crime" Month.
Praises:
1. a very well-researched narrative outlining the horrific death of Bridget Cleary by the hands of her husband and several relatives, claiming that the "fairies took her away". The search for her body, the arrests, the trial, and eventually, the sentencing of those involved, are also covered in great detail;
2. the book contains several pages of black & white photos, a Family Tree, a Chronology from March 1895 to July 1895, and two pages of maps;
3. author Angela Bourke describes who fairies are in folklore, how they originated, what they are capable of, and how to "rid" someone of their possession; and,
4. Bourke gives a historical background as to who the typical victims and accused were regarding fairy-legend, and how the key players in this story were sucked into it.
Niggles:
1. although interesting information is revealed as the story unfolds, oftentimes this read like a textbook; and,
2. Bourke included historic portions that were not directly related to the book's subject, leading me to skim through several pages. At times, I thought I'd need toothpicks to prop open my eyelids!
Overall Thoughts:
Domestic violence at its worst! Let's blame it on the fairies!
During a time of great social, economic, and cultural change in Ireland, educated, modern-day-thinking people were at odds with "backwards quacks", especially when it came to stigmatized family, friends, and neighbors. When so-called "educated" people wouldn't help during their time of need, who could a person turn to? Were some of these people wrongly convicted?
As in any true crime story, there are no winners.
March 4, 2010
By all accounts, Bridget Cleary made one basic mistake. She was smarter than most of her neighbors and family and - this was her mistake - she made no particular effort to hide the fact . Although her husband made no objection to the extra income she brought in through dressmaking and keeping chickens, he may not have welcomed the independence it allowed her. Neighbors commented on her air of "superiority"; another trait that made Bridget a bit "weird" was a disturbing tendency to look men straight in the eye, which was said to be a characteristic of pagan women.
Had Bridget been born in 1970, none of this would have been an issue. Sadly for her (and maybe this was her mistake), she was born a century earlier. Even so, the events that led to her death in March 1895 were extraordinary. On Monday March 4th, she developed a cold, which lingered and progressed to a bronchial infection. On the evening of Friday March 15th, when Bridget's illness still hadn't cleared up, her husband and family became distraught. Convinced (so they later maintained) that the real Bridget had been “taken by the fairies”, and that they were dealing with a changeling, they proceeded to drag her from her bed to the fireplace, where they forced her to swallow herbal remedies and then held her over the fire repeatedly, challenging the spirit that possessed her to come out.
The results of the ordeal by fire were predictable – Bridget died of the resulting burns. At this point, her crazed relatives came to their senses enough to realize they had a problem on their hands. So three of them buried the body in a nearby bog, while the others worked on their cover story. This was that (in line with a still prevalent superstition) Bridget had in fact been carried wailing from the house by a fairy horde, but that she had promised to reappear the following Sunday evening at the nearby fairy fort on Kylenagranagh Hill, where her family could, if they had the courage, rescue her. (A white horse may or may not have been implicated)
Bridget’s disappearance, the bizarre coverup story, the subsequent discovery of the body, elicitation of the true facts, and the trial and conviction of the family members instrumental in her death, were major news for the rest of the year. Beyond the shock value of the irresistible details of the case, the political situation at the time ensured that the trial took place under the full glare of the media spotlight. In particular, events played directly into the Tories’ hands during the ongoing debate over Irish Home Rule, confirming lingering fears about the backward and superstitious Irish peasantry.
The Bridget Cleary story is the subject of not just one, but two, books. Both appeared in 2000 (one can only imagine the mutual chagrin of the various authors involved). Of the two, the book by Angela Bourke (“The Burning of Bridget Cleary”) is shorter by 200 pages, and infinitely better. Ms Bourke does an excellent job of presenting the facts, with just the right amount of background information to place them in context, without taxing the reader’s patience. The result is a decently written, lively, interesting book.
The same cannot be said for "The Cooper's Wife is Missing : The Trials of Bridget Cleary" by Joan Hoff and Marian Yeates, whose strategy to “go long”, is frankly misguided. Bridget’s story is interesting, but nothing about it merits a 450-page tome. The best that can be said is to pay the authors the lukewarm compliment of acknowledging their extensive research, while deploring their fatal inability to be selective about what to include. The ability to synthesize effectively is critical for any non-fiction writer, but is conspicuously absent in the Hoff and Yeates book. In particular, the ecclesiastical maneuverings of Archbishop Croke and his interactions with Nationalist hero Charles Kickham are completely tangential to the story – the extensive discussion given them by Hoff and Yeates betrays a woeful lack of focus.
Angela Bourke: 4 stars
Joan Hoff and Marian Yeates : 2 stars
Had Bridget been born in 1970, none of this would have been an issue. Sadly for her (and maybe this was her mistake), she was born a century earlier. Even so, the events that led to her death in March 1895 were extraordinary. On Monday March 4th, she developed a cold, which lingered and progressed to a bronchial infection. On the evening of Friday March 15th, when Bridget's illness still hadn't cleared up, her husband and family became distraught. Convinced (so they later maintained) that the real Bridget had been “taken by the fairies”, and that they were dealing with a changeling, they proceeded to drag her from her bed to the fireplace, where they forced her to swallow herbal remedies and then held her over the fire repeatedly, challenging the spirit that possessed her to come out.
The results of the ordeal by fire were predictable – Bridget died of the resulting burns. At this point, her crazed relatives came to their senses enough to realize they had a problem on their hands. So three of them buried the body in a nearby bog, while the others worked on their cover story. This was that (in line with a still prevalent superstition) Bridget had in fact been carried wailing from the house by a fairy horde, but that she had promised to reappear the following Sunday evening at the nearby fairy fort on Kylenagranagh Hill, where her family could, if they had the courage, rescue her. (A white horse may or may not have been implicated)
Bridget’s disappearance, the bizarre coverup story, the subsequent discovery of the body, elicitation of the true facts, and the trial and conviction of the family members instrumental in her death, were major news for the rest of the year. Beyond the shock value of the irresistible details of the case, the political situation at the time ensured that the trial took place under the full glare of the media spotlight. In particular, events played directly into the Tories’ hands during the ongoing debate over Irish Home Rule, confirming lingering fears about the backward and superstitious Irish peasantry.
The Bridget Cleary story is the subject of not just one, but two, books. Both appeared in 2000 (one can only imagine the mutual chagrin of the various authors involved). Of the two, the book by Angela Bourke (“The Burning of Bridget Cleary”) is shorter by 200 pages, and infinitely better. Ms Bourke does an excellent job of presenting the facts, with just the right amount of background information to place them in context, without taxing the reader’s patience. The result is a decently written, lively, interesting book.
The same cannot be said for "The Cooper's Wife is Missing : The Trials of Bridget Cleary" by Joan Hoff and Marian Yeates, whose strategy to “go long”, is frankly misguided. Bridget’s story is interesting, but nothing about it merits a 450-page tome. The best that can be said is to pay the authors the lukewarm compliment of acknowledging their extensive research, while deploring their fatal inability to be selective about what to include. The ability to synthesize effectively is critical for any non-fiction writer, but is conspicuously absent in the Hoff and Yeates book. In particular, the ecclesiastical maneuverings of Archbishop Croke and his interactions with Nationalist hero Charles Kickham are completely tangential to the story – the extensive discussion given them by Hoff and Yeates betrays a woeful lack of focus.
Angela Bourke: 4 stars
Joan Hoff and Marian Yeates : 2 stars
May 18, 2023
This book is written by an academician who extensively researched the case of Bridget Cleary and in the process delves into the history of Irish culture. Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her husband with the assistance of relatives. It is set in Tipperary in the late 19th Century. Bridget becomes ill and the people around her decide that she has been taken away by the fairies who have put a changeling in her place. In the end in order to get his wife back, Michael Cleary, Bridget's husband burns her to death in their kitchen. Over the course of several days, seven relatives come and go into the house aiding Michael and offering advice on getting rid of the changeling.
Michael Cleary and the others are arrested and charged with murdering Bridget. At this time Ireland was still under the governance of Britain but the prospect for home rule in the country was a very hot issue in Parliament and after 900 years, it seemed like a possibility. The problem was that Unionists at the time were vehemently opposed to the idea and when stories about fairies abducting Bridget Cleary came to be known, Unionists argued that the Irish were incapable of self government. The incident coincided with the arrest and conviction of Oscar Wilde because of his homosexuality and shortly after the downfall of Charles Stewart Parnell after his extra marital affair. The idea was that these deviations from normal behavior were part and parcel of the Irish. How much influence this all had on home rule is not known but the accused were all convicted.
The judge hearing the case did not believe that the accused committed the crime out of a belief that fairies had taken Bridget. He believed that it was a case of deliberate murder and so the sentences, particularly Michael Cleary's were harsh.
Bourke explains the purpose of mythology in the life of the Irish and how their belief almost never resulted in violence. That said, she believed that Cleary deeply believed in the mythology and therefore did not commit murder. She explains the role of mythology in Ireland and other cultures as warnings to obey the rules of the society or pay the consequences.
I am Irish American; was married to an Irishman, lived in Ireland for many years and came across superstition on a fairly regular basis. My mother in law believed in many things and my husband had his fair share of belief in it as well. We had an employee who, rather than move into a house she and her husband had built, lived in a tiny trailer for 18 months with their three children while another house was built. The reason was that she discovered that the house built on a fairy ring. This took place in the 1980's. Many of us might find this ridiculous but these are deeply held beliefs and Ireland was only beginning to emerge from 900 years of colonialization and victimization by the British. They had only recently had the opportunity to earn an education and life was becoming less isolated. It is a fascinating book for anyone interested in this topic.
Michael Cleary and the others are arrested and charged with murdering Bridget. At this time Ireland was still under the governance of Britain but the prospect for home rule in the country was a very hot issue in Parliament and after 900 years, it seemed like a possibility. The problem was that Unionists at the time were vehemently opposed to the idea and when stories about fairies abducting Bridget Cleary came to be known, Unionists argued that the Irish were incapable of self government. The incident coincided with the arrest and conviction of Oscar Wilde because of his homosexuality and shortly after the downfall of Charles Stewart Parnell after his extra marital affair. The idea was that these deviations from normal behavior were part and parcel of the Irish. How much influence this all had on home rule is not known but the accused were all convicted.
The judge hearing the case did not believe that the accused committed the crime out of a belief that fairies had taken Bridget. He believed that it was a case of deliberate murder and so the sentences, particularly Michael Cleary's were harsh.
Bourke explains the purpose of mythology in the life of the Irish and how their belief almost never resulted in violence. That said, she believed that Cleary deeply believed in the mythology and therefore did not commit murder. She explains the role of mythology in Ireland and other cultures as warnings to obey the rules of the society or pay the consequences.
I am Irish American; was married to an Irishman, lived in Ireland for many years and came across superstition on a fairly regular basis. My mother in law believed in many things and my husband had his fair share of belief in it as well. We had an employee who, rather than move into a house she and her husband had built, lived in a tiny trailer for 18 months with their three children while another house was built. The reason was that she discovered that the house built on a fairy ring. This took place in the 1980's. Many of us might find this ridiculous but these are deeply held beliefs and Ireland was only beginning to emerge from 900 years of colonialization and victimization by the British. They had only recently had the opportunity to earn an education and life was becoming less isolated. It is a fascinating book for anyone interested in this topic.
September 23, 2017
Fascinating account of the 1895 murder of Bridget Cleary in a rural town in Tipperary, Ireland; the trial of her husband, cousins and others accused of her killing; and the folklore and fairy beliefs of old Ireland that played a key role in the crime (or were perhaps just a desperate excuse?).
Bridget Cleary is often referred to as the last witch burned in Ireland, and one of the strengths of the book is author Angela Bourke's ability to convey the ways in which Ireland was changing during the late 19th century -- increasingly modern in bigger towns, but still very much tied to the past in more rural areas. This resonated personally for me, as my great-great-grandfather was murdered in a rural Irish town only six years before Bridget Cleary, in a case which, like hers, attracted significant attention from newspapers across Ireland. The newspaper accounts I have found about my GGGF's case provide extensive details about the crime and trial, but not really about the times. Bourke's book helped paint a much more vivid picture of what rural Ireland was like in this period, and is especially valuable to me for that reason. Her tale also provides inspiration for me to try and create a similar (but shorter, much shorter) account of my own relative's case!
The author clearly did extensive research on the core crime, rural Ireland, and political developments in Great Britain (of which Ireland was still a part) in this era. While her research in the first two areas is what makes her book so compelling, the latter area unfortunately makes it less so. She tries too hard, in my opinion, to connect this specific case to a variety of political developments in Ireland and even England (the struggle for Home Rule, the indecency trial of Oscar Wilde, etc.), but ultimately doesn't make a compelling case for the relevancy of those connections. Much of her history provides good and useful context and background, but too much of it is a distraction from the essential story of Bridget Cleary. Still, the story itself is interesting enough, and the writing and analysis strong enough, to warrant a 4-star rating and a "recommend" for anyone interested in Ireland and/or compelling real-life murder mysteries.
Bridget Cleary is often referred to as the last witch burned in Ireland, and one of the strengths of the book is author Angela Bourke's ability to convey the ways in which Ireland was changing during the late 19th century -- increasingly modern in bigger towns, but still very much tied to the past in more rural areas. This resonated personally for me, as my great-great-grandfather was murdered in a rural Irish town only six years before Bridget Cleary, in a case which, like hers, attracted significant attention from newspapers across Ireland. The newspaper accounts I have found about my GGGF's case provide extensive details about the crime and trial, but not really about the times. Bourke's book helped paint a much more vivid picture of what rural Ireland was like in this period, and is especially valuable to me for that reason. Her tale also provides inspiration for me to try and create a similar (but shorter, much shorter) account of my own relative's case!
The author clearly did extensive research on the core crime, rural Ireland, and political developments in Great Britain (of which Ireland was still a part) in this era. While her research in the first two areas is what makes her book so compelling, the latter area unfortunately makes it less so. She tries too hard, in my opinion, to connect this specific case to a variety of political developments in Ireland and even England (the struggle for Home Rule, the indecency trial of Oscar Wilde, etc.), but ultimately doesn't make a compelling case for the relevancy of those connections. Much of her history provides good and useful context and background, but too much of it is a distraction from the essential story of Bridget Cleary. Still, the story itself is interesting enough, and the writing and analysis strong enough, to warrant a 4-star rating and a "recommend" for anyone interested in Ireland and/or compelling real-life murder mysteries.
August 6, 2011
The incident that this book centers around is culturally pretty interesting, but this book is a really disappointing and poorly-executed study of it. My main problems with it:
1. The author includes long disquisitions on the cultural context of Bridget Cleary's murder. These are way out of hand. It's interesting to know the background of the epithet "Hottentot," but we don't need a page and a half on it. It's also interesting that at the same time Bridget Cleary was murdered and her family members were put on trial for it, Oscar Wilde was also put on trial for indecency. But we don't need five pages about Oscar Wilde.
2. The author makes "drive-by" statements about the underlying motivations for Bridget Cleary's murder, which she does not provide evidence for and does not discuss further. E.g., she states that Cleary's husband was chastising her for being so economically successful and stepping over the bounds of what he saw as her role. The author drops these kinds of statements in the middle of discussions, does not give any other evidence that would support the statement, and then moves on to other topics without developing the idea further.
1. The author includes long disquisitions on the cultural context of Bridget Cleary's murder. These are way out of hand. It's interesting to know the background of the epithet "Hottentot," but we don't need a page and a half on it. It's also interesting that at the same time Bridget Cleary was murdered and her family members were put on trial for it, Oscar Wilde was also put on trial for indecency. But we don't need five pages about Oscar Wilde.
2. The author makes "drive-by" statements about the underlying motivations for Bridget Cleary's murder, which she does not provide evidence for and does not discuss further. E.g., she states that Cleary's husband was chastising her for being so economically successful and stepping over the bounds of what he saw as her role. The author drops these kinds of statements in the middle of discussions, does not give any other evidence that would support the statement, and then moves on to other topics without developing the idea further.
September 22, 2017
Are you a witch or are you a fairy,
Or are you the wife of Michael Cleary?
A children's rhyme, still well known in South Tipperary, shows that Bridget and Michael Cleary have not been forgotten. 232
I waffle between a 3 and 4 for this rating. Definitely an intriguing book that I could not put down. Bourke tries hard to demonstrate all of the possible facts and environment surrounding this case. However, as I read through the case I developed a niggling feeling that Bourke possibly (maybe unintentionally) leans slightly towards Michael Cleary's defense.
Bridget Cleary was burned by her husband in March of 1895. Her husband claimed she was a "changeling" left behind by the fairies, and he was attempting to get his real wife back. Bourke explains how it was common, in Ireland, among the older, illiterate, generations, who relied on oral story telling tradition, to blame inexplicable illnesses, developmental disabilities, or any physical impairment on fairies. However, in these oral traditions, it was stressed not to harm a changeling or else the fairies could, in return, harm the loved one which they were holding onto. I would say this is seen, as well, in other oral tradition cultures where, instead of fairies, maybe witchcraft, or something similar is blamed. A family so affected by witchcraft or fairy magic could be stigmatized by others in the community and must perform some ritualistic measures in order to restore everything back to normal. The big question, here, for me, with Michael Cleary is: did he truly believe his wife was a changeling and he killed her in order to redeem his family or was he simply an abusive man who used the changeling/fairy story as a cover/excuse for his abuse? A way to have the entire family move along with his abusive madness, without stopping him, helping him even, in case this really was a changeling? After reading through all of the evidence presented I think he was an abusive husband and he clung to the fairy story as a cover up for the crime he wanted to commit.
Cleary's sentence, when it came, was not lenient, but rather such as would express the degree to which the judge believed him guilty. Mr. Justice O'Brien was by no means convinced that all the talk of fairies was not a cloak for ordinary murder; he had judged the case on the evidence brought before him, however, and found, in short, that Michael Cleary had burned his wife alive. 215
This is a fascinating story which took place at a pivotal time in Ireland's history (post famine, a more educated society which has mostly left oral tradition aside) as Bourke lays out. However, I feel she assumes too much in how all of this history and climate affected Cleary's crime. It reads to me like an obvious case of domestic abuse. All families endure gossip, jealousies, illness, and marital strife, to some extent, but murder is not the usual outcome. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something doesn't sit well with me in some of the presentation of the material.
For example, here is a spot where I feel Bourke is defending Cleary:
When Michael Cleary first believed his wife was dead - either because she had struck her head (Or, from other testimony included, had her head slammed into the ground by Cleary! Big difference!) or because her clothing and skin had caught fire - the shock must have been enormous. However angry he was, or whatever the public later thought, it does not appear that he had had any intention, or even felt himself capable, of murdering his wife. 125 What?! I feel this statement goes directly against testimony, from others present, that Bourke includes in this book.
Also this:
Michael Cleary was different. He had worked in Clonmel, and could read and write. He was a self-employed artisan, not a forelock-tugging laborer; he was making money; his standard of living was rising and he had come to expect to be treated with respect, as his attempts to have Dr. Crean call on his wife show clearly. What he had done in causing his wife's death was entirely inconsistent with the self he had been in the habit of presenting to the world, and it appears that he cracked up under the strain of trying to account for it. When his wife's remark about his mother and the fairies on Friday night left him at last entirely isolated, unable any longer to sustain the self he had thought himself to be, he had reached for the nearest and most obvious weapon, a stick from the fire. 237 Nope!!! Sounds to me like Bourke's blaming the wife! The wife's remark caused her death. Poor Mr. Cleary, backed into a corner by his wife's remark. His wife he's been torturing for the past 2 days, while she's been sick, remark! Are you kidding me?!! How can you hold a torture victim responsible for their remarks after being tortured. Also, abusive husbands often have a very inconsistent self which they display publicly and at home, a very respectable public face and an abusive, angry home face. It's a typical Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. He also seems very controlling, even picking out her clothes. Michael Leary followed them to where they were sitting at the kitchen fire and told them that "as she had the company, his wife was going to dress herself and get up." Cleary himself handed his wife her clothes, and Johanna Burke and Mary Kennedy helped her to dress: He gave her two petticoats and she put them on her. He gave her a navy-blue skirt and a navy-blue jacket and a white knitted shawl. He got her shoes and stockings for her then. 113 He seems to me to be hovering too closely around his wife and ordering and controlling her every movement. The abuse seems to have a history as Bridget remarked to Johanna Kennedy, he thought to burn me about three months ago, but if I had my mother I would not be this way. 75 Three months ago Bridget was not sick, so if he thought to burn her then, he wouldn't have had the changeling excuse that he used at her death.
So, while the fairy/changeling oral storytelling history is rich and fascinating and there's a lot of changes occurring in Ireland when Bridget was burned I don't see all of this history as being somehow linked to this crime, or, as heavy an influence as Bourke makes it out to be. Sadly, I see this as a horrible case of domestic abuse, with the abuser jumping at the chance to blame his actions on fairy abduction.
Or are you the wife of Michael Cleary?
A children's rhyme, still well known in South Tipperary, shows that Bridget and Michael Cleary have not been forgotten. 232
I waffle between a 3 and 4 for this rating. Definitely an intriguing book that I could not put down. Bourke tries hard to demonstrate all of the possible facts and environment surrounding this case. However, as I read through the case I developed a niggling feeling that Bourke possibly (maybe unintentionally) leans slightly towards Michael Cleary's defense.
Bridget Cleary was burned by her husband in March of 1895. Her husband claimed she was a "changeling" left behind by the fairies, and he was attempting to get his real wife back. Bourke explains how it was common, in Ireland, among the older, illiterate, generations, who relied on oral story telling tradition, to blame inexplicable illnesses, developmental disabilities, or any physical impairment on fairies. However, in these oral traditions, it was stressed not to harm a changeling or else the fairies could, in return, harm the loved one which they were holding onto. I would say this is seen, as well, in other oral tradition cultures where, instead of fairies, maybe witchcraft, or something similar is blamed. A family so affected by witchcraft or fairy magic could be stigmatized by others in the community and must perform some ritualistic measures in order to restore everything back to normal. The big question, here, for me, with Michael Cleary is: did he truly believe his wife was a changeling and he killed her in order to redeem his family or was he simply an abusive man who used the changeling/fairy story as a cover/excuse for his abuse? A way to have the entire family move along with his abusive madness, without stopping him, helping him even, in case this really was a changeling? After reading through all of the evidence presented I think he was an abusive husband and he clung to the fairy story as a cover up for the crime he wanted to commit.
Cleary's sentence, when it came, was not lenient, but rather such as would express the degree to which the judge believed him guilty. Mr. Justice O'Brien was by no means convinced that all the talk of fairies was not a cloak for ordinary murder; he had judged the case on the evidence brought before him, however, and found, in short, that Michael Cleary had burned his wife alive. 215
This is a fascinating story which took place at a pivotal time in Ireland's history (post famine, a more educated society which has mostly left oral tradition aside) as Bourke lays out. However, I feel she assumes too much in how all of this history and climate affected Cleary's crime. It reads to me like an obvious case of domestic abuse. All families endure gossip, jealousies, illness, and marital strife, to some extent, but murder is not the usual outcome. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something doesn't sit well with me in some of the presentation of the material.
For example, here is a spot where I feel Bourke is defending Cleary:
When Michael Cleary first believed his wife was dead - either because she had struck her head (Or, from other testimony included, had her head slammed into the ground by Cleary! Big difference!) or because her clothing and skin had caught fire - the shock must have been enormous. However angry he was, or whatever the public later thought, it does not appear that he had had any intention, or even felt himself capable, of murdering his wife. 125 What?! I feel this statement goes directly against testimony, from others present, that Bourke includes in this book.
Also this:
Michael Cleary was different. He had worked in Clonmel, and could read and write. He was a self-employed artisan, not a forelock-tugging laborer; he was making money; his standard of living was rising and he had come to expect to be treated with respect, as his attempts to have Dr. Crean call on his wife show clearly. What he had done in causing his wife's death was entirely inconsistent with the self he had been in the habit of presenting to the world, and it appears that he cracked up under the strain of trying to account for it. When his wife's remark about his mother and the fairies on Friday night left him at last entirely isolated, unable any longer to sustain the self he had thought himself to be, he had reached for the nearest and most obvious weapon, a stick from the fire. 237 Nope!!! Sounds to me like Bourke's blaming the wife! The wife's remark caused her death. Poor Mr. Cleary, backed into a corner by his wife's remark. His wife he's been torturing for the past 2 days, while she's been sick, remark! Are you kidding me?!! How can you hold a torture victim responsible for their remarks after being tortured. Also, abusive husbands often have a very inconsistent self which they display publicly and at home, a very respectable public face and an abusive, angry home face. It's a typical Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. He also seems very controlling, even picking out her clothes. Michael Leary followed them to where they were sitting at the kitchen fire and told them that "as she had the company, his wife was going to dress herself and get up." Cleary himself handed his wife her clothes, and Johanna Burke and Mary Kennedy helped her to dress: He gave her two petticoats and she put them on her. He gave her a navy-blue skirt and a navy-blue jacket and a white knitted shawl. He got her shoes and stockings for her then. 113 He seems to me to be hovering too closely around his wife and ordering and controlling her every movement. The abuse seems to have a history as Bridget remarked to Johanna Kennedy, he thought to burn me about three months ago, but if I had my mother I would not be this way. 75 Three months ago Bridget was not sick, so if he thought to burn her then, he wouldn't have had the changeling excuse that he used at her death.
So, while the fairy/changeling oral storytelling history is rich and fascinating and there's a lot of changes occurring in Ireland when Bridget was burned I don't see all of this history as being somehow linked to this crime, or, as heavy an influence as Bourke makes it out to be. Sadly, I see this as a horrible case of domestic abuse, with the abuser jumping at the chance to blame his actions on fairy abduction.
April 13, 2022
Whoa that took a while to finish. Reading about Bridget Cleary was interesting but it was a SLOG getting through the rest of the information the author added.
January 28, 2009
Bourke expands on an essay she wrote previously about Cleary's death. She examines women's work in the period--Bridget Cleary was a milliner and dress-maker, and made a lot of her own money--and how men reacted to the changes in domestic power thus set in motion. Bridget Cleary's murder was horrific--she was ill for several days, and her husband engaged both the drunken local doctor, who diagnosed Mrs. C with bronchitis and gave her medicine; and a "quack doctor" who claimed that Mrs. Cleary had been taken by the fairies and that the woman in her place was a changeling who must be driven out by fire. Cleary's husband and family members tortured her a bit, attempting to drive out the fairy spirit, and then her husband burned her to death. That, apparently, is the wages of uppity.
Bourke skillfully frames the story in the broader Irish, British, and global history of the day. Fairy lore and Cleary's murder were used as arguments against granting Irish Home Rule, in favor of bigotry against Catholics, in attacks against Oscar Wilde (hence the modern pejorative "fairy" used against homosexuals), and in a misguided form of Cultural anthropology arguing that most folks outside of England were brutes and savages, and thus incapable of self-governance, civilization, or righteousness.
The book is fantastic--in every sense of the word. Bourke is a careful researcher, a skilled and engaging writer, and has bigger balls than most of the male historians outselling her by writing only about men. She's not dismissive of folklore--just enraged by it's manipulation to excuse domestic abuse, murder, and subjugation of a whole country. I'm going to keep reading her books, and I'm becoming increasingly interested in egg prices in the Victorian and Georgian ages. Please, join us in our hysteria.
Bourke skillfully frames the story in the broader Irish, British, and global history of the day. Fairy lore and Cleary's murder were used as arguments against granting Irish Home Rule, in favor of bigotry against Catholics, in attacks against Oscar Wilde (hence the modern pejorative "fairy" used against homosexuals), and in a misguided form of Cultural anthropology arguing that most folks outside of England were brutes and savages, and thus incapable of self-governance, civilization, or righteousness.
The book is fantastic--in every sense of the word. Bourke is a careful researcher, a skilled and engaging writer, and has bigger balls than most of the male historians outselling her by writing only about men. She's not dismissive of folklore--just enraged by it's manipulation to excuse domestic abuse, murder, and subjugation of a whole country. I'm going to keep reading her books, and I'm becoming increasingly interested in egg prices in the Victorian and Georgian ages. Please, join us in our hysteria.
January 2, 2016
Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her husband in 1895. The reasons--as Bourke demonstrates--are difficult to tease out; it isn't clear ultimately whether Michael Cleary believed his wife was a changeling, or if in the aftermath of her (at least semi-accidental) death, maddened with grief and guilt, he came to believe that he believed she was a changeling. Bourke is very interested in the ways that traditional Irish folk beliefs, as a coherent system of orally transmitted knowledge, were becoming obsolete at the same time that, as artifacts of indigenous Irish culture, they were acquiring a different kind of value. And she's interested in the ways that those two different kinds of valuation were hopelessly and tragically at loggerheads in the Clearys' house in the summer of 1895. She describes the way that class, religion, politics, familial jealousies, and a nasty case of bronchitis combined to create the circumstances under which Bridget Cleary died. Bourke is careful, compassionate, and nonjudgmental, and she's very good at marking clearly the divide between what we can know and what we can only speculate about.
June 21, 2008
In the spring of 1895 a woman was burned to death in her kitchen at the hands of her husband, her father, and several cousins. The woman, Bridget Cleary, was accused of being a changeling, a product of fairy-work. Bridget had been ill for about a week prior and accused of not being herself. The next logical step, of course, was to try to remove the fairy from the woman by whatever means necessary. Unfortunately for her husband, Michael Cleary, and the rest of the family, no fairy left the body of Bridget before she burned to death. The family went to trial and was imprisoned for their association with her death (whether 'murder' or 'manslaughter' was greatly debated).
What happens to be an interesting story to begin with was exceptionally watered down by Angela Bourke's writing. During the moments when the narrative surrounded the actual case and subsequent murder of Bridget Cleary the book was highly interesting. The few photographs included provided realism to this true story. But then Bourke spent a lot of time discussing the social, economic and cultural changes occuring in Ireland in the late 19th-century - not uninteresting information on its own. Where Bourke failed to make the entire book gel is in the connection between the historical context and the information about Bridget Cleary's death. Her attempt to show the political and religious pressures on Michael Cleary which allegedly led to his belief of his wife's changes did not flow and ultimately made the reading feel like there were separate theses involved which never did wholly come together.
Occasionally throughout this was the popular scandal involving Oscar Wilde and his libel action against the Marquess of Queensberry, a suit which backfired entirely and caused the imprisonment of Wilde. While also interesting in its own right, and aside from the random amusement of detailing what else was going on during the Cleary murder and the trial that follwed, it became too random and off-putting. It feels as though Angela Bourke has a lot of great ideas and a passion for Irish history and culture; sometimes, however, that passion needs to be reigned in or else the final product is just a hodgepodge of Irish stories with no clear direction.
What happens to be an interesting story to begin with was exceptionally watered down by Angela Bourke's writing. During the moments when the narrative surrounded the actual case and subsequent murder of Bridget Cleary the book was highly interesting. The few photographs included provided realism to this true story. But then Bourke spent a lot of time discussing the social, economic and cultural changes occuring in Ireland in the late 19th-century - not uninteresting information on its own. Where Bourke failed to make the entire book gel is in the connection between the historical context and the information about Bridget Cleary's death. Her attempt to show the political and religious pressures on Michael Cleary which allegedly led to his belief of his wife's changes did not flow and ultimately made the reading feel like there were separate theses involved which never did wholly come together.
Occasionally throughout this was the popular scandal involving Oscar Wilde and his libel action against the Marquess of Queensberry, a suit which backfired entirely and caused the imprisonment of Wilde. While also interesting in its own right, and aside from the random amusement of detailing what else was going on during the Cleary murder and the trial that follwed, it became too random and off-putting. It feels as though Angela Bourke has a lot of great ideas and a passion for Irish history and culture; sometimes, however, that passion needs to be reigned in or else the final product is just a hodgepodge of Irish stories with no clear direction.
March 4, 2023
A book about Bridget Cleary…and Oscar Wilde?
This book is certainly well researched. The topic is interesting and the author clearly spent a lot of time with the subject matter. However, it is at times repetitive and divergent. Sometimes I felt drawn in but other times I felt like I had to fight to pay attention or to track the author’s point.
I would give this 2/5 stars for how well I enjoyed it (as a whole), but the 3rd star is awarded for Bourse’s research and understanding of the topic. This is an academic book, and it definitely has value as a work contributing to a greater understanding of Ireland at the time (socially, economically, via folklore, nationalism, etc). I’m in no rush to read this again, but I refrain from being overly harsh about it.
This book is certainly well researched. The topic is interesting and the author clearly spent a lot of time with the subject matter. However, it is at times repetitive and divergent. Sometimes I felt drawn in but other times I felt like I had to fight to pay attention or to track the author’s point.
I would give this 2/5 stars for how well I enjoyed it (as a whole), but the 3rd star is awarded for Bourse’s research and understanding of the topic. This is an academic book, and it definitely has value as a work contributing to a greater understanding of Ireland at the time (socially, economically, via folklore, nationalism, etc). I’m in no rush to read this again, but I refrain from being overly harsh about it.
April 9, 2019
Read for class.
This book was okay, and definitely very interesting. Fairy changelings, burning people alive, mysterious circumstances - sounds like an episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved to me. And these are all true events.
Yet, I didn’t really like the style of the book. I prefer when an author is straight and too the point, but here, Bourke inundates the reader with fact after fact, date after date, historical background, yadda yadda yadda. I just want to know what happened, without drawling on and on!
This book was okay, and definitely very interesting. Fairy changelings, burning people alive, mysterious circumstances - sounds like an episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved to me. And these are all true events.
Yet, I didn’t really like the style of the book. I prefer when an author is straight and too the point, but here, Bourke inundates the reader with fact after fact, date after date, historical background, yadda yadda yadda. I just want to know what happened, without drawling on and on!
May 22, 2017
In 1895 in rural Ireland, a young woman named Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her husband. She had been sick with bronchitis for the previous week, and her family had apparently become convinced that the "real" Bridget had been stolen away by fairies, leaving a sickly changeling in her wake. In fact, the night before her death, her husband was assisted by her father, her aunt, and various cousins of hers to perform a magical ritual/exorcism that verged on torture. But the question of how much any of them really believed in fairies remains open. Was her murder simply domestic violence that used the legends as a cover-up? Was it an unfortunate accident? Something in-between?
All of this gains resonance from the fact that the story of Bridget's death hit newspapers at the same time as Parliament was debating Irish Home Rule and Oscar Wilde was undergoing trial for homosexuality. The idea of Irish peasants (not that any of the people involved truly qualified as such... ) blindly following fairy legend to the point of murdering a pretty young woman provided ammunition for all sorts of political goals.
This true event makes for an absolutely fabulous story. Unfortunately Bourke is not the person to tell it. She frequently jumps around in time, making it hard to understand the chronological order of events. She positions Michael Kennedy as the protagonist, though God alone knows why – he's one of Bridget's cousins, but wasn't even there on the day she was killed, doesn't give particularly elaborate or compelling testimony in the trial afterward, and has nothing to distinguish him from the rest of the family. She makes the thesis of her book the idea that Bridget was killed out of jealousy, but doesn't even try to show that this jealousy actually existed; she simply treats it as a foregone conclusion. And, I mean, Bridget was better-educated and wealthier than the rest of her family! I am willing to believe this was an important factor in her death! I am totally the choir, and yet Bourke wouldn't preach a single piece of evidence to me.
Ugh, I have such mixed feelings about this book. There's a lot of interesting details in it, from the history of fairy legends to the contemporary Romantic tradition of writing poems and collecting folklore, to the case itself, but it's all so muddled and incompetently done. There's a kernel of good here, but it's coated by a lot of poor writing.
All of this gains resonance from the fact that the story of Bridget's death hit newspapers at the same time as Parliament was debating Irish Home Rule and Oscar Wilde was undergoing trial for homosexuality. The idea of Irish peasants (not that any of the people involved truly qualified as such... ) blindly following fairy legend to the point of murdering a pretty young woman provided ammunition for all sorts of political goals.
This true event makes for an absolutely fabulous story. Unfortunately Bourke is not the person to tell it. She frequently jumps around in time, making it hard to understand the chronological order of events. She positions Michael Kennedy as the protagonist, though God alone knows why – he's one of Bridget's cousins, but wasn't even there on the day she was killed, doesn't give particularly elaborate or compelling testimony in the trial afterward, and has nothing to distinguish him from the rest of the family. She makes the thesis of her book the idea that Bridget was killed out of jealousy, but doesn't even try to show that this jealousy actually existed; she simply treats it as a foregone conclusion. And, I mean, Bridget was better-educated and wealthier than the rest of her family! I am willing to believe this was an important factor in her death! I am totally the choir, and yet Bourke wouldn't preach a single piece of evidence to me.
Ugh, I have such mixed feelings about this book. There's a lot of interesting details in it, from the history of fairy legends to the contemporary Romantic tradition of writing poems and collecting folklore, to the case itself, but it's all so muddled and incompetently done. There's a kernel of good here, but it's coated by a lot of poor writing.
May 25, 2022
True story of a young woman burned to death in her kitchen by her husband as the rest of her family looks on. Michael Cleary, the husband, comes to believe his wife was taken by fairies--so the woman with him is a changeling. Threatening with fire is supposed to get the imposter to confess. But Bridget insists she's herself and ends up dead. Michael and most of the watchers do jail time.
Bourke links Bridget's story to Ireland's quest for Home Rule and Oscar Wilde's trial for homosexuality. Bridget's death seems to indicate to the government that the Irish are way too primitive and savage to govern themselves. The Wilde link is fuzzier, but, somehow, this is when "fairy" first becomes a synonym for "homosexual."
Bourke links Bridget's story to Ireland's quest for Home Rule and Oscar Wilde's trial for homosexuality. Bridget's death seems to indicate to the government that the Irish are way too primitive and savage to govern themselves. The Wilde link is fuzzier, but, somehow, this is when "fairy" first becomes a synonym for "homosexual."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2019
after today my time is my own once again so, more to come.
November 30, 2017
Reading all those stories of Crofton Croker's, usually involving babies, hot pokers, boiling water or open fires, about the various ways for dealing with changelings, I remember feeling a sense of creeping horror at the idea that someone at some time genuinely thought it might be a good and necessary thing to do these things. At the back of my mind - not even that far back, really - was the story of Bridget Cleary, burned to death after two nights of torture and mistreatment because her husband somehow became convinced that she was a fairy and his real wife had been taken away. It's a nasty, brutish, sordid story, but Angela Bourke's masterful book works to dispel myths and misconceptions about the case and to put the events in a social, historical and cultural context.
The Cleary's were a relatively well-off childless couple. He was a cooper and she was a seamstress and they lived in a newly-built labourer's cottage at a time that was post-Famine, post-Land War, when progressive and ordered values were gradually asserting themselves across Ireland, conditions for the vast, legendarily-mistreated and long-suffering labouring class of the country were beginning to improve through political and agricultural reforms. A way of life that had employed fairy tales for instruction and entertainment, and belief in which was a complex, ambiguous thing, was being encroached upon. Values were changing. The creameries were replacing dairies, with massive economic and social shifts to small-scale every-day life. Scientific approaches to farming were rendering the fairy tales used to pass knowledge and practice orally through generations obsolete for that purpose.
Bourke cogently and intelligently makes the case that it was this decline and devaluation that seemed to prompt this savage manifestation of folkloric belief and action in a fraught domestic situation filled with subtle undercurrents and tensions. She also links the events to the political situation - Land Acts and Home Rule, as well as the Oscar Wilde libel trial and indecency case with which it was concurrent. Attitudes to the Irish as savage and backward vie with the Irish trying to defend themselves while the fascination with folklore and Irish heritage struggles to come to terms with a grim expression of a their heavily romanticised past-time.
A brilliant, measured, extremely well-written work of non-fiction that gets behind the lurid and sensational facts to form a narrative that provides some insight and understanding.
The Cleary's were a relatively well-off childless couple. He was a cooper and she was a seamstress and they lived in a newly-built labourer's cottage at a time that was post-Famine, post-Land War, when progressive and ordered values were gradually asserting themselves across Ireland, conditions for the vast, legendarily-mistreated and long-suffering labouring class of the country were beginning to improve through political and agricultural reforms. A way of life that had employed fairy tales for instruction and entertainment, and belief in which was a complex, ambiguous thing, was being encroached upon. Values were changing. The creameries were replacing dairies, with massive economic and social shifts to small-scale every-day life. Scientific approaches to farming were rendering the fairy tales used to pass knowledge and practice orally through generations obsolete for that purpose.
Bourke cogently and intelligently makes the case that it was this decline and devaluation that seemed to prompt this savage manifestation of folkloric belief and action in a fraught domestic situation filled with subtle undercurrents and tensions. She also links the events to the political situation - Land Acts and Home Rule, as well as the Oscar Wilde libel trial and indecency case with which it was concurrent. Attitudes to the Irish as savage and backward vie with the Irish trying to defend themselves while the fascination with folklore and Irish heritage struggles to come to terms with a grim expression of a their heavily romanticised past-time.
A brilliant, measured, extremely well-written work of non-fiction that gets behind the lurid and sensational facts to form a narrative that provides some insight and understanding.
May 22, 2016
I found this book very interesting but at times extremely confusing. There seemed to be too much unrelated information woven into the main story while at the same time certain details were repeated over and over.
December 9, 2016
this was a hard one for me. Not my usual Read. This is more about politics and a documentary about the times when this took place. took me quite a long time to get through it
February 6, 2017
In 1895, Bridget Cleary was bedridden with an illness. Her husband, Michael Cleary, began to suspect that she was not his wife, but a changeling sent by the Good People, the fairies, after they had kidnapped her. Folklore remedies to "cure" his wife failed and she disappeared, but soon after her badly burnt body was found in a shallow grave. Her husband and relatives had burned her to death, attempting to either cure her of bewitchment or kill the changeling.
Angela Bourke sets out to explore the events relating to the death in The Burning of Bridget Cleary, drawing on an extensive knowledge of folklore and local history that makes up so much of the background of the events. It's immensely clear that Bourke has done prodigious research in her efforts to explore all angles of these horrendous events, trawling through censuses, prison records and newspaper archives. So too does she provide a greater context for the events, linking them to the aftermath of the Great Famine, the changes Irish society underwent in the late 1800s, the push for Home Rule and even Oscar Wilde's trial.
However, these sometimes felt like distractions. The Home Rule discussions seem to boil down to the idea that the superstitious savagery of Bridget's killers was used as "proof" that the Irish could not govern themselves. It is interesting and a conclusion well worth discussing, but it felt a bit overdone.
Where the book really worked is when Bourke focused on the circumstances of Bridget's illness and death, and she communicates well the horrific, violent treatment she faced. There were times when Bourke did seem to pushing a message, suggesting that Michael Cleary's actions were driven by jealous, anger and resentment over Bridget overstepping her "role" as his wife. While interesting and, indeed, believable, this didn't feel backed up by any solid evidence or argument. If Bourke had spent less time working on the context and links to broader events and more time detailing the subject matter, I feel there would be very little to criticise.
A fair to middling read, unfortunately – though dealing with a fascinating event, The Burning of Bridget Cleary spent so much time on its diversions that it felt muddled and confused.
Angela Bourke sets out to explore the events relating to the death in The Burning of Bridget Cleary, drawing on an extensive knowledge of folklore and local history that makes up so much of the background of the events. It's immensely clear that Bourke has done prodigious research in her efforts to explore all angles of these horrendous events, trawling through censuses, prison records and newspaper archives. So too does she provide a greater context for the events, linking them to the aftermath of the Great Famine, the changes Irish society underwent in the late 1800s, the push for Home Rule and even Oscar Wilde's trial.
However, these sometimes felt like distractions. The Home Rule discussions seem to boil down to the idea that the superstitious savagery of Bridget's killers was used as "proof" that the Irish could not govern themselves. It is interesting and a conclusion well worth discussing, but it felt a bit overdone.
Where the book really worked is when Bourke focused on the circumstances of Bridget's illness and death, and she communicates well the horrific, violent treatment she faced. There were times when Bourke did seem to pushing a message, suggesting that Michael Cleary's actions were driven by jealous, anger and resentment over Bridget overstepping her "role" as his wife. While interesting and, indeed, believable, this didn't feel backed up by any solid evidence or argument. If Bourke had spent less time working on the context and links to broader events and more time detailing the subject matter, I feel there would be very little to criticise.
A fair to middling read, unfortunately – though dealing with a fascinating event, The Burning of Bridget Cleary spent so much time on its diversions that it felt muddled and confused.
December 2, 2014
I came upon the story of Bridget Cleary while reading the introduction to an anthology of British ghost stories. Apparently, the author had interested himself in the case, and sought to have the murder charges reduced to manslaughter, based on the sincere belief of the perpetrators that they were dealing with a changling, and not Bridget Cleary herself.
Angela Bourke's telling of the tale is a bit tedious, regularly jumping between events in the chronology. While discussing the events of the day before her death, those that came after are suddenly inserted. A second flaw, repeated many times, is the constant reference to the Census records of 1901. Obviously, when doing the research necessary, one has to seek out such sources. But rather than give a person's age in 1895, the relevant year, Bourke keeps writing 'X was 35 years old in the 1901 Census. Is this done simply to impress us that she took the time to go through the Census records? This kind of work should be assumed, not paraded.
The greater sin in this book is the regular insertion of boilerplate Gender Studies 101 jargon/ideology. One grotesque example: The husband first tries to force-feed Bridget with an herbal medicine with a spoon, and later, in an effort to make her eat, threatens her mouth with the end of a burning stick. From this, we get "Michael Cleary's actions amounted to a kind of oral rape." Oral rape? So when my mother tried to make me eat mashed carrots as a child, she was effectively forcing a penis down my throat?
This sophomoric dumbed down academic feminism doesn't fill the book, but it does return multiple times, and leads me to believe that Angela Bourke simply isn't a very intelligent person. I would understand it in 18 year olds, not in grown women.
A final flaw, and to my mind a dramatic one. Bridget Cleary suffered from some very serious disease. She was a strong, intelligent woman until the last week of her life. So what do doctors say of her symptoms as they are described in the records? This topic is barely acknowledged, much less explored. Apparently, Ms Bourke is satisfied that Bridget Cleary died of the patriarchy.
Angela Bourke's telling of the tale is a bit tedious, regularly jumping between events in the chronology. While discussing the events of the day before her death, those that came after are suddenly inserted. A second flaw, repeated many times, is the constant reference to the Census records of 1901. Obviously, when doing the research necessary, one has to seek out such sources. But rather than give a person's age in 1895, the relevant year, Bourke keeps writing 'X was 35 years old in the 1901 Census. Is this done simply to impress us that she took the time to go through the Census records? This kind of work should be assumed, not paraded.
The greater sin in this book is the regular insertion of boilerplate Gender Studies 101 jargon/ideology. One grotesque example: The husband first tries to force-feed Bridget with an herbal medicine with a spoon, and later, in an effort to make her eat, threatens her mouth with the end of a burning stick. From this, we get "Michael Cleary's actions amounted to a kind of oral rape." Oral rape? So when my mother tried to make me eat mashed carrots as a child, she was effectively forcing a penis down my throat?
This sophomoric dumbed down academic feminism doesn't fill the book, but it does return multiple times, and leads me to believe that Angela Bourke simply isn't a very intelligent person. I would understand it in 18 year olds, not in grown women.
A final flaw, and to my mind a dramatic one. Bridget Cleary suffered from some very serious disease. She was a strong, intelligent woman until the last week of her life. So what do doctors say of her symptoms as they are described in the records? This topic is barely acknowledged, much less explored. Apparently, Ms Bourke is satisfied that Bridget Cleary died of the patriarchy.
April 17, 2016
The story itself is faszinating, but the style of the book made it very hard to read for me.
I actually wasn't aware that it wasn't a novelized version of the story, but a non-fiction book with lots of quotes, foornotes etc.
So it was probably my wrong expectation about what to get from this book which made it a little disappointing for me....
I appreciate the effort the author has made to give the context of the time and the backstory etc. - but I would have prefered to have it as a foreword or in a way to devide it from the story itself.
So while there was a lot of deatail in it, there was also a lot of things I missed.
Michael Cleary said more than once he is not guilty. Why? Was there a reason given? I haven't seen it. Was it because he thought he had the right to burning a changeling? Or was it because he didn't do it and the main witnesses lied? Or...? We got Johannas statement very detailed - but hardly anything Michael has said.
And what did he feel? At any time - there must have been some statements somewhere. So I still don't know what to make out of him.
And last but not least - Was Bridget burned alive or was she dead because of an 'accident' (broken neck because she was shaken f.e.)
So there is lots and lots of interesting things in the book, but buried in other stuff, and even more missing.
I actually wasn't aware that it wasn't a novelized version of the story, but a non-fiction book with lots of quotes, foornotes etc.
So it was probably my wrong expectation about what to get from this book which made it a little disappointing for me....
I appreciate the effort the author has made to give the context of the time and the backstory etc. - but I would have prefered to have it as a foreword or in a way to devide it from the story itself.
So while there was a lot of deatail in it, there was also a lot of things I missed.
Michael Cleary said more than once he is not guilty. Why? Was there a reason given? I haven't seen it. Was it because he thought he had the right to burning a changeling? Or was it because he didn't do it and the main witnesses lied? Or...? We got Johannas statement very detailed - but hardly anything Michael has said.
And what did he feel? At any time - there must have been some statements somewhere. So I still don't know what to make out of him.
And last but not least - Was Bridget burned alive or was she dead because of an 'accident' (broken neck because she was shaken f.e.)
So there is lots and lots of interesting things in the book, but buried in other stuff, and even more missing.
March 1, 2014
The sections of the book that dealt with the actual crime and it's aftermath were interesting (and horrifying). However, the author frequently digresses from the actual case. Her digressions come in the form of putting the case in to the context of politics (the Homeland Act in British Parliment), race & class (poor, illiterate catholics in rural Ireland), social change (the new generation born to farmers and laborers who were now educated and learning trades), and superstition and the oral tradition. Unfortunately, many of Bourke's digressions read like they were written for an academic journal (and unfortunately, not a very interesting academic journal). I had expected that "The Burning of Bridget Cleary" would have had a lot more information about the Clearys and their family. I'm guessing that information from surviving historical documents and contemporary accounts were limited, which is why it seemed that there was so much 'filler' in this book. It probably should have been written as a chapter in a book, or a magazine article.
December 8, 2009
I labeled this as "biography," but really, most of it is not about Bridget Cleary herself, but instead, discusses her case as it is framed by the dominant Victorian British culture, and by the oral tradition of the Irish. The book seeks to shed light on how the Irish, particularly those who were illiterate, used fairy stories to enforce social codes and to explain losses like sickly or disabled children. I wish that it had contained more examples of fairy stories, though the author's interpretation of the function of fairy stories within the Irish oral culture was persuasive. I also would have preferred more information about Bridget herself, though of course, it is likely that everything available has already been presented.
September 27, 2014
This could've been something more. More readable, more photos/pictures, more editing. And it also could've been less. Less pages, mostly. I sincerely applaud the author for doing her research incredibly thoroughly, but by including (seemingly) every detail at every point in the story, constantly diverging on the topic on hand (from paragraph to paragraph a lot of the time), it made it very difficult and clunky to read. I couldn't tell where I was in the timeline of the story at nearly every point - for 200-some page NF book, that shouldn't be the case.
I understood the story better by reading the Wikipedia page for poor Bridget Cleary. Seriously. Go do that, and flip through the photos in the book. Boom! Story told.
I understood the story better by reading the Wikipedia page for poor Bridget Cleary. Seriously. Go do that, and flip through the photos in the book. Boom! Story told.
April 3, 2025
2007 review: A very good narrative and analysis of the mysterious death of 26-year-old Bridget Cleary on March 15, 1895 in Ballyvadlea, Ireland. Apparently Bridget was believed by her family to have been taken away by "the fairies" and a sickly changeling left in her place. In the course of trying to determine if the Bridget in his house was really his wife, her husband Michael exploded into a rage and Bridget either caught fire or was intentionally ignited. Author Angela Bourke expertly places us in the politics and culture of the time, helping us to understand what might have caused seemingly rational people to behave in a way that is nearly inexplainable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history, folklore, true crime, the supernatural, or sociology.
January 22, 2016
This is the fascinatingly awful study of how a group of normally rational, workaday people became convinced that Bridget Cleary was a changeling and tried to change her back by throwing her in the fireplace. It talks a lot about the social forces in play during that period of Irish history to make the disaster possible. I would love this book unreservedly if the author had not reiterated throughout the book that this or that player in the drama came from an oral culture rather than a literate one, without once mentioning why she thought that was so deuced important.
August 27, 2007
It took me a long time to get through this book even though the topic was interesting to me. It's the true story of a man and some of his family members who are put on trial for murdering the man's wife because they believe her to be a fairy changeling. I could have done less with the political and historical background that went along with it but I recognize that it's helpful in understanding what was going on in Ireland at the time.
August 19, 2017
Angela Bourke avoids turning this domestic tragedy into a True Crime thriller by setting the murder into the bigger social context and demonstrating how people from a variety of backgrounds reacted to the case. There a few serious sources for this incident, and Bourke has done an excellent job providing historical context and police procedures. Bourke never plays up the sensationalism of the subject matter.
March 16, 2022
The author reconstructs the picture of the Irish countryside in the late Victorian period through a reconstruction of the bizarre death of Bridget, a young Irish girl, in 1895. The book not only restores the beliefs of the fairy and the mentality of the masses in the Irish countryside at the end of the 19th century but also recreates the ability of the state machinery to control the rural areas during the Victorian period through the analysis of population census.
October 16, 2013
In the late 19th century Michael Cleary claimed his wife had been taken away by the fairy folk. A few days later her burnt body was found in a shallow grave. Subsequently her husband and various family members were arrested and imprisoned for murder. The author tells the story whilst also informing of the cultural background that led to the fantastical tale.
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