Stepsisters

Eight writers. Sixteen unforgettable stories.

Translated from Irish for the first time.

Ranging from Belfast to Kerry.

Stepsisters is a unique and varied anthology that includes ghost stories, tales with O’Henry-esque twists, literary stories, humorous fiction, stories set in rural-Irish-speaking Ireland, English-speaking Ireland, Northern Ireland, urban Ireland and abroad.

Here is family in all its beautiful, terrible complexity— the bonds that sustain us, the ones that suffocate, the love that heals and the secrets that destroy— in stories that explore the raw territories of motherhood and loss, desire and betrayal and the clash between old certainties and new realities. A tattooist claims his lover’s skin. A widow faces an impossible choice about her disabled son. Birds of prey stalk through dreams of environmental catastrophe.

Bold and unflinching, Stepsisters showcases the depth and power of contemporary Irish women’s writing. Featuring stories from Éithne Ní Ghallchobhair, Deirdre Brennan, Róise Ní Bhaoill, Biddy Jenkinson, Katherine Duffy and Réaltán Ní Leannáin, this enduring chorus of fiction is an affirmation of women’s voices in Irish literature that is certain to appeal to all readers and fans of the short story.

Book Topics

Irish

Gaelic

endangered languages

Irish literature

Irish short stories

RUC

Belfast

Londonderry

the Troubles

abortion

family law in Ireland

divorce

unwed pregnancy

immigration

refugees

Irish diaspora

human cloning

environmental issues