An unforgettable collection of retold myths and folk tales celebrating the wisdom and power of women in midlife and beyond, from the award-winning author of Hagitude
‘An extraordinary selection of stories … beautifully and vividly retold’ TLS
‘Features an exuberant cast … The collection is precious … Genius’ IRISH TIMES
‘A fascinating collection of female myths and legends‘ SARA SHERIDAN, author of The Fair Botanists
From early childhood, we learn about the world and its possibilities through myths and fairy tales. The heroines, though, tend to be golden-haired princesses, and the evil-doers often older women.
But women today are searching for positive versions of themselves from midlife onwards, and this dazzling array of not-to-be-messed-with characters – from ungainly giantesses and sequin-strewn fairy godmothers to misunderstood witches and craggy crones – provides them. They outwit monsters, test and mentor younger heroines, embody the cycles and seasons of the earth, weave the world into being – and almost always have the last laugh.
These women manifest their wisdom in different ways, and so offer us inspiration for how we too can walk boldly and live authentically in the second half of life.
‘Read it, absorb it, treasure it!’ SHAHRUKH HUSAIN, author of The Virago Book of Witches
‘Wonderful, both comforting and inspiring’ VICTORIA SMITH, author of Hags
‘The book I’ve been longing for’ JILL DAWSON, author of The Bewitching
‘I adored Wise Women – this is the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle when it comes to reframing the narrative in our culture about the role of older females’ ELEANOR MILLS, author of Much More to Come: Lessons on the mayhem and magnificence of midlife
‘Reading it quenched a thirst I didn’t know I had. Oh for a world where stories of the power and joy of women’s elder years are celebrated everywhere’ DOREEN CUNNINGHAM, author of Soundings
‘Revisits our old stories, making them thrilling for us now’ STELLA DUFFY OBE
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Reviews
A fascinating collection of female myths and legends that read like both dreams and nightmares
Features an exuberant cast ... The collection is precious, because it's the first time that these rare, patriarchy-surviving remnants of powerful elder female folk stories have been deliberately anthologised ... Genius
This scrumptious new collection took me into much-loved tales from evergreen folklorists and story-gatherers and gifted me the bonus of meeting marvellous new beings. Nestled in insightful notes, this collection turns the spotlight on older women, celebrating their perspicacity and clout with the flair of a seasoned Broadway performance. This will be a smash-hit of a show starring mature and canny women in its second and third acts! Read it, absorb it, treasure it!
A MUST read for women in mid life. A beautiful weave of global myths that tell a story that speaks to us deeply. This is less a book and more a manifesto for mid life, from the mouths of the wise women who came before us. I devoured it!
Wondrously wise, clever and insightful as well as slyly funny. Wise Women maps a new path made of old stories, offering an alternative for women in the second half of life - a reframing as a harvest season of experience rather than a dying off
An extraordinary selection of stories ... beautifully and vividly retold, elaborating the bare-bones structures of folk tales into delightful literary short stories that will be enjoyed by a wider readership than the wise older women for whom the book is intended
I adored Wise Women - this is the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle when it comes to reframing the narrative in our culture about the role of older females. Sharon Blackie has unearthed the tales we Queenagers need to see what we can be and become as we age. Essential reading. So important to reclaim these inspirational tales of what older women are for and the crucial roles that they play
A wonderful collection of tales casting light on older women's desires and roles. Blackie's careful analysis of myth and fairy tale awakens a powerful sense of connection with our most difficult and our most nurturing selves. In a world that often struggles to acknowledge the richness and complexity of this stage of women's lives, I found these stories of carers, peacemakers, tricksters and more both comforting and inspiring. I will be recommending this to all the wise women I know!
The glorious possibility that we might age and ripen, age and grow greater, age and be-come, while also accepting that we will age and die - this is what I have come to expect from Sharon Blackie's expansive work, and why I am especially excited by this collection with Angharad Wynne that revisits our old stories, making them thrilling for us now, as the midlife and older wise women we are be-coming
The book I've been longing for. I immediately want to give it to all my woman friends. It is so important and Sharon Blackie is exactly the right inspirational person to bring this topic and these new stories of old women to the culture
This book populated my head with older women who stride, trick, battle, guide and outwit their way through the pages. The giant who forged Scotland's landscape with clay and her great hammer, the legendary warrior who trained the Irish hero Cuchullain in arts of combat and a mother who stood between armies and bared her breasts to prevent war between her sons. Reading it quenched a thirst I didn't know I had. Oh for a world where stories of the power and joy of women's elder years are celebrated everywhere
This rich curation re-iterates the truth that women in midlife - and beyond - are a vital source of wisdom. Reading them ignited a fire in my belly!