By Sally Collins

Have you ever wondered what it was like to travel from Cork City to Glengarriff under Cromwellian rule? To hide in Glengarriff woods when the roundhead soldiers are but a stone’s throw away over the arched bridge? Mithim is a debut Irish historical novel that promises to pull you into the heart of 17th-century Ireland and refuses to let you go. Written by Allihies woman Carina McNally, it is a haunting historical novel set in 17th-century Ireland. When Cromwellian forces destroy her home, healer Mithim flees to the Wexford forest, surviving through ancient herbal wisdom. Guided by the goddess An Cailleach, she searches for her brother Eoin. In a world where empires burn everything visible, only sacred knowledge endures. Mithim is steeped in Irish mythology, the Celtic tree calendar and the forgotten wisdom of the Gaelic healing women.

The book give as voice to a woman whose history was forgotten: a Gaelic noblewoman who refused to disappear quietly into the wreckage of conquest, who carried her people’s knowledge into the dark and who will risk everything to find out who survived. In praise of Mithim, Jo Kerrigan, author of Fairy Forts of Ireland, said: ‘McNally displays a deep knowledge of ancient customs and traditions, and to explore this book is to realise more vividly what richness still lies hidden in our landscape For a debut novel, this is nothing short of incredible.’ McNally’s debut has been recommended by the Dublin Book Festival as a spring read, and features in the Literature Ireland New Writing catalogue. Mithim releases May 14th and is published by Mercier Press.