A hagtale, a dark fable, a story told around winter’s fires and known to Shakespeare but never written down. Until now.

In eleventh-century Scotland, feral wolf-child Wulva is brought up by witches and then sent to live at a Scottish castle, where she falls under the spell of cruel, ambitious Lord Macbeth.

Three hundred years later, gentle Brother Rowan goes on a strange and perilous journey to a remote and ancient monastery to write a history of the Scottish king-line.

Misfits in their own time, seekers after truth, Wulva and Rowan are deeply connected despite the centuries that separate them.

Hagtale explores the power of stories lost and found, their transformative potential, and who gets to be the owner of the tale.

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‘This vivid novel features a wolf child, a crazed warlord and a walking forest, conjuring a world where nature is alive and wild, and human nature is cruel and deadly. Giving new life to the old fireside yarn that inspired Shakespeare’s Macbeth.’

"‘O’Reilly’s reimagining of Macbeth is stunning. Language, time frame, descriptions, plot, and character are brilliant. Connections between Rowan and Wulva are preternaturally curious. A gift to the expanding literary world of Macbeth.’" - Historical Novel Society

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‘O’Reilly’s rich, descriptive writing brings to life all the sights and sounds of nature, the tranquil countryside, the sparkling river waters, the night sounds, the forest spreading its roots. The title Hagtale with its permutations of dark fable and oral storytelling is perfect.’

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‘For too long, Lady Macbeth has been cast as the singular catalyst for Macbeth’s descent into violence. O’Reilly instead gestures toward a more unsettling possibility: that Lady Macbeth has functioned as a scapegoat for male aggression, a narrative pattern that has recurred across literary history.’

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‘Hagtale is perhaps the kind of story we all once listened to around the fire, children and adults together. It is a fairytale, told fast and spare, with no danger of losing the listeners’ attention. There is brutal violence and page-turning suspense. Wulva and Brother Rowan are immensely likeable, both of them not only caught up in the expectations of others but powerful, inescapable spiritual forces.’

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Praise for Dark Aemilia:

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Praise for Dark Aemilia: