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The community is split by those who believe in the old superstitions, and those more skeptical, even though they too have had their own share of experiences which they cannot explain, or attribute to malevolent magic and curses. Eventually, Nance, Nóra and Mary perform a ritual on Micheál, dunking him in a place where two rivers meet in the Flesk, where on the third day of the ritual he drowns. They are arrested, the police called by the new priest, and tried. Mary is not charged and is a witness against the two elderly women who claim in court that the child was a fairy changeling and that they were only trying to get back Micheál. The two women are acquitted. When they return to the valley, Nance finds that her cabin has been burned to the ground by angry locals, and Nóra discovers that her lease on her house has been taken away from her and she must move in with her nephew's family. While Nóra is expecting Micheál to be waiting for her, he never shows up and she is left wondering whether the boy was truly her grandson, or whether Micheál and her daughter are still away under the fairy ráth dancing and feasting with the fairies.
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gave me chills. It reminds us how persistent the human spirit is in its yearning for answers, and the tragic consequences that may come when superstitious faith — even in good people — transmutes into blind action. It’s a haunting novel, shrewdly conceived and beautifully written." In the
Australian
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Epigraph: "When all is said and done, how do we not know but that our own unreason may be better than another's truth? for it has been warmed on our hearths and in our souls, and is ready for the wild bees of truth to hive in it, and make their sweet honey. Come into the world again, wild bees, wild
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who is an expert in herbs, and who it is said is in communion with the fairies. Meanwhile Father Healy, the new priest in the area, is strongly against the old superstitions, claiming that as long as the Irish cling to the stories of fairies and monsters, they will never be free from
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she said it is an "unsentimental portrayal" of rural
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follows the story of Nóra Leahy, a woman stricken by grief after the death of her daughter and husband, and having to look after her disabled grandson Micheál. The boy cannot walk or talk, and screams all during the night. The local women begin to suspect that he is a
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gothic without the psychological speed, a novel in black and grey, but for those who enjoy slow-burning melodrama and their history re-enacted in hi-res minutiae, this will please."
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Nóra and Mary to life "in a way that feels true for the time, and yet that also has weight and resonance for a modern audience."
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Helen
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known commonly as the Good People – euhemerised versions of the deities of ancient
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This article is about the Hannah Kent novel. For other uses, see
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368:. 30 September 2016.
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208:fairies
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
