Mithim
It is 1649, and Cromwell’s army has devastated Ireland. Mithim McMurrough, descendant of an ancient and noble Irish clan, flees the burning ruins of her father’s castle to escape alone into the Wexford Forest. The world she has known has gone up in flames, and Mithim must learn to survive with the only resource left to her: the knowledge of herbs and healing bequeathed to her by her mother.
But Mithim is much more than a skilled herbalist: like the trees that surround her in the ancient forest, her feet are firmly rooted in the soil and the ancestral memories of her people. Her powers of perception connect her to the ancient gods of the place, especially the Cailleach Bere, ancient goddess of winter, nature, and the landscape, and Saint Brigid. Mithim will need all these skills to survive in dangerous times, when to be identified as one of the rebel McMurroughs is a death sentence, and treachery is everywhere.
Many books of historical fiction focus on the drama of wars. Instead, McNally writes from the inside looking out, as Mithim holds on to beliefs and a spirituality that are gradually disappearing while the world burns around her. McNally has created a world in which the old gods live, and myth and magic are never far away.
If I were to be critical, I would suggest that the proliferation of Irish words and phrases, while interesting, can sometimes be a distraction from the threads of the story. However, McNally has created a gripping narrative in which Mithim searches for traces of any surviving members of her clan who may have escaped the destruction. In her journey she discovers that love, and hate, take many forms and that in the end she can only survive on her own inner strength.
