‘Some books set up house inside your soul. Utterly magnificent’ – M. R. Carey
A remote island off the west coast of Ireland, St Brigid’s, is a barren landscape, its small community dwindling. But, according to rumour, it is a magical place, a home to a healing well.
Rose and Emer have resisted the call to the mainland. They are sisters but opposites in every way. Rose, beautiful and blessed with a large family, dotes on the bitter and defiant Emer.
When a stranger arrives in search of a miracle, the islanders are determined to keep their secrets close. Little do they realise that the stranger’s quest will endanger the lives of all who remain on the island.
A remote island off the west coast of Ireland, St Brigid’s, is a barren landscape, its small community dwindling. But, according to rumour, it is a magical place, a home to a healing well.
Rose and Emer have resisted the call to the mainland. They are sisters but opposites in every way. Rose, beautiful and blessed with a large family, dotes on the bitter and defiant Emer.
When a stranger arrives in search of a miracle, the islanders are determined to keep their secrets close. Little do they realise that the stranger’s quest will endanger the lives of all who remain on the island.
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Reviews
The Stolen Child is captivating - savage and tender, with a deep respect for the transcendent truths that lie in human pain. It grabs you, shakes you to your core and keeps you turning those pages. Leaving you reeling, sated and in love with its characters, landscape and utterly believable magic
This is a captivating, eerily beautiful tome; full of mistrust, dark magic and superstition
Dark, dazzling, quintessentially Irish . . . The Stolen Child is completely and utterly ravishing
Her distinctive voice shines throughout The Stolen Child, which casts a spell upon the reader in its opening prologue and does not let go until the final devastating moments
A deserted island off the west coast of Ireland provides the vividly imagined setting for a tale of superstition and lust
With some artful weaving of fact and fiction, history and legend, harsh reality and Celtic myth, Carey has created an elegant and deeply evocative work of fiction.
St Brigid's Island is the sinister, seductive home to several individualistic, spiky women. These women know that their world is peopled with more than can be seen and they collude with and push against those sources, often with frightening results. The Stolen Child is a gorgeously written book about female bonds and the ferocious pull of motherhood. Compelling, eerie and beautiful
Carey employs a generous dose of magic realism to leave you guessing, crafting a dark, devastating fairy tale that will keep you up into the wee hours
Lisa Carey's The Stolen Child does what few tales dare to - get inside your head and refuse to leave. Set on a mysterious windswept island off the coast of Ireland, St Brigid, the story centers on its intriguing community and follows two sisters: Rose blessed with beauty and disfigured Emer, who was blinded in one eye by a swarm of bees and who has a curse - she can harm with a simple touch of her hands . . . This is a captivating, eerily beautiful tomb; full of mistrust, dark magic, and superstition - you won't be able to put it down.
Fans of Gothic intrigue have a treat in store. The Stolen Child by Lisa Carey has all the right ingredients for a good yarn: a windswept island, a jealous twin and a woman in search of a miracle
Some books set up house inside your soul. The Stolen Child is one such book. Utterly magnificent
It's a brave author who names their book after a Yeats poem. But Carey's understated tale of complex women living complex lives is steeped in the strange, chilly tone of the 19th century verse
Carey paints an ethereally vivid picture of a legend drenched in fear, betrayal, love and desire - proof of her lyrical genius
Startling, bewitching and new; the world of Lisa Carey's The Stolen Child is less a tiny island than a multi-layered universe. Fierce and vivid in its portrayals of community, superstition, sexuality and the human need to believe and to connect, it's a novel which resists sentiment and instead plunges into the visceral quick of myth and legend, while keeping a clear and intelligent eye on the reality of how people are. Carey's women in particular are unforgettable: this is a novel to devour
A powerful, bewitching gothic tale of betrayal, superstition and desire.
A piercing exploration of regret and desire, longing and love. It is a gorgeously written, inventive, and compelling novel