The Curse of the Wise Woman
core novel 1933 The Curse of the Wise Woman
Record
| First published | 1933 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.84 (106 ratings, collected 2026-11-02) |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
In the 1890s, an Anglo-Irish teenager whose mother is dead finds himself in charge of the family estates when his father leaves the country. Free of supervision, he spends his days on field sports, above all shooting wildfowl on the great peat bog near his home. The bog's future is put at risk when an industrial syndicate arrives with plans to cut the peat on a large scale. The boy has little power against such a company, and his only effective ally is an old woman of the district who believes she is a wise woman, a witch able to curse and conjure. Whether her craft or the natural world answers the threat is left open to the reader, in a story that mixes sporting country life with folk magic and the pull of an Irish otherworld.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Curse of the Wise Woman
- Series: The Curse of the Wise Woman core; position 1 of 1 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Lord Dunsany
Notes
- Set in real Ireland rather than in an invented world.
- From the series record (The Curse of the Wise Woman): A standalone novel of an Anglo-Irish teenager, a peat bog and a self-styled witch.
Sources
← The Curse of the Wise Woman dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.