Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold

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Apparently my grandfather heard the banshee cry the night my grandmother died. So, as a child, fairytales marked the places reason couldn’t go and explained shivers down the spine. Now, I think they let women go into the dark and sometimes return intact. This is 100% personal but I find it very hard to read about stories in which a person cheats on their sibling with that sibling's partner, which therefore made it hard for me to enjoy this particular story. Little writes well, though, and engaged with the matter in a sensitive, nuanced way. A collection of short stories that are retellings of British folklore and mythology selected and introduced by Professor Carolyne Larrington. The folktales take you across the country from Suffolk and green children, to boggarts in Yorkshire, Panthers in Stafford, selkies in Orkney and more. Each Hag story has a woman either at its heart or close to it; women's friendships and their enmities, their power to give birth and to deal death, to harm and to heal thread their way through the narratives."~ from the preface All three carry secrets and as the wedding celebrations get underway, plans go astray and truths come to light. When Annie finally says ‘I do’, Julia, Eddie and Steph make some discoveries about themselves – but will the guests of the wedding party get their happy-ever-after in time for Christmas day? The Perfect Sister by Zoe Miller

That is not to say that these stories are by any means weaker or more predictable for having their authors’ hallmarks. In fact these three were my favourites of the collection, balancing as they did a contemporary update of the tale and the writer’s personal flourishes, while also maintaining a clear connection to the original. It’s the weekend before Christmas. Julia, Eddie and Steph, strangers to each other, are making separate journeys to Ireland to attend the wedding of Annie, the woman who fostered each of them in their childhoods, and to spend the weekend in the house that gave them refuge when they needed it. Daisy Johnson starts Hag off with a story that poses the question at the heart of any retelling: Is it mine to tell? Overall, I thought this was a decent collection, though there were some stories that definitely are catered to a specific audience. I would absolutely read more from some of these authors!With any collection of tales from various authors, it is hard to say anything about the writing. Not every story will be to everyone's taste and that is ok. Some of the authors in this collection were familiar to me and I loved revisiting their imaginations. Others were new and they have been added to my 'when you see this name, buy it, you know you'l like it'-list. The quality of writing and innovation throughout Hag is staggering and should make for a fascinating reading experience for any type of reader. The set up of this project is what I find fascinating. Curated by Prof. Carolyn Larrington, the tales in this collection bring attention not just to great female authors but also to perhaps forgotten gems of British and Irish folklore. The authors focus on the various themes, ideas and evolutions in a woman's life, whether it is the bond between sisters, the loss of one's self, motherhood, inherited pain, burning desire, friendship and freedom. Eira is a midwife and she comes across a pregnant young woman. Eira thinks that she knows the young woman and she helps deliver the baby only to find out that things aren't as they seem. This wonderful anthology of culture-rich myths and folktales are given a unique feminist makeover and are steeped in the traditions of the United Kingdom. Each is subtly nuanced and enveloped in an enigmatic, and often magical or foreboding, atmosphere. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most appealing and riveting short story collections I've read in recent years, and I can't recommend it highly enough for those who enjoy old myths and legends, and even the supernatural or fairytales, and one of the best aspects is that this book doesn't just retell the prominent stories we all know, hence the use of ’forgotten’ in the title.

I really gotta learn that I don't get on with short story collections. I sort of almost enjoyed a whole two of these stories, and even they weren't good. I'm exhausted by stories about pregnancy and childbirth being the only Universal Womanly Experience and that's a core feature of the majority of these stories (and you'll never guess what core underlying trait isn't in the two I sort of liked). I outright had to skip one of them because while it's clear the author had been going for a voice of someone telling a story, it was just beyond infuriating to try and read either outloud or silently. I found myself just rolling my eyes and sighing deeply at half the book, which uh. I mean kudos for getting a physical reaction out of me I guess. I also hated the phonetic accents used throughout but I think that's mostly a pet peeve. I’ve always loved how folktales weave the ordinary and magical world together. Fairytales can often feel out of reach; this happened to a princess in a castle far away. But with folktales there is a commonplace, local element; this happened to a miller up the lane. I imagine when these tales were originally told, combining sprites, giants, merfolk (and in the case of my tale, a panther) within the local setting would not only have made it feel as if these things could happen, but they could happen to you. In the modern era, retelling these stories has a particularly alluring appeal as elements that were often excluded in the original versions – the point of view of women, for example – can add extra layers previously missed. Within every folktale there is a warning, and it’s interesting to see how these elements can differ when written from different perspectives as well as what elements remain the same. But essentially it is the magic within the ordinary that I feel we are drawn to and can look out for in our own lives, no matter what our age. I love creepy stories, I love stories in which it is left up to the reader to decide whether what is happening is supernatural or the mind responding to trauma, and I love wlw, so it's no wonder I loved this one.But when they return home, reality hits. They’re both driven mad by each other’s weird quirks and annoying habits, from his eccentric, naked-sauna-loving family to her terribly behaved, shirt-shredding dog. As disaster follows disaster, it seems that while they love each other, they just can’t love each other’s lives. Can they overcome their differences to find one life, together? The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett Queer elements, culturally diverse, and set in early modern times (a.k.a. the era I specialised in during my time at uni)? Count me in! This one reads most like a fairy tale out of all the stories. Johnson explores how a story came into existence. With dashes of surrealism. This was clever. And of course I enjoy everything Daisy Johnson writes (at least so far) This collection was born out of a literary experiment curated by Professor Carolyne Larrington. Eight female authors were provided with a British folktale and asked to write a contemporary retelling with a feminist twist. In line with the oral tradition they were inspired by, the stories were first produced as podcasts. Now augmented by two further stories commissioned from Irenosen Okojie and Imogen Hermes Gowar, they are being issued in book form by Virago, the indefatigable publisher of books by women.