Foxfire, Wolfskin – Blog Tour

Synopsis:

‘Part rally cry, part warning, part manifesto and all parts enchanting, Sharon Blackie’s Foxfire, Wolfskin is a deeply evocative and haunting collection. Humming with the strength of our immutable voices, each story sings with the transformation that is possible when women take agency of our lives. I want to press this powerful book into the hands of everyone I know and say, listen.’  Holly Ringland, author, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

‘Sharon Blackie has wrought a new-old magic for our times: glorious, beautiful, passionate myths written for this critical moment in time. They show who we could have been, and they give us a glimpse of a world-that-could-be. There’s still time to make it happen.’ Manda Scott, author of the Boudicca series, and A Treachery of Spies

Charged with drama and beauty, this memorable collection by a master storyteller weaves a magical world of possibility and power from female myths of physical renewal, creation and change. It is an extraordinary immersion into the bodies and voices, mindscapes and landscapes, of the shape-shifting women of our native folklore.  We meet the Water Horse of the Isle of Lewis, the huldra, the Scandinavian supernatural forest-dweller, and Baba Yaga of Slavic folklore (but will she help you or kill you?) Here too is the Snow Queen; the wild bird-woman of the Sliabh Mis Mountains; Blodeuedd, the Welsh ‘flower-faced’ woman.  

Drawing on myth and fairy tales found across Europe – from Croatia to Sweden, Ireland to Russia – Sharon Blackie brings to life women’s remarkable ability to transform themselves in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances. These stories are about coming to terms with our animal natures, exploring the ways in which we might renegotiate our fractured relationship with the natural world, and uncovering the wildness – and wilderness – within.

Book Information:
Written by: Sharon Blackie
Published by: September Publishing
Published on: 2 October 2019
Price: £ 14.99
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781910463680

My Review

You ever get a book and just from the moment you hold it, you know you’re going to really enjoy it?

This was one for me. I love folklore and it’s clear that Blackie does as well, she takes these myths and tales and weaves them into stories greater than what we’d been given. To make the stories about women for women in a way.

How often have we’ve seen folklore show its fear of women? Oh, that’s not to say that there are no tales of courageous women, it’s just, more often than not you can find a plethora of stories where women are not praised for their strengths and kind hearts, but rather used as warnings.

Overall it was an amazing collection of 13 vibrant, touching, and surprisingly beautiful stories.

I loved all 13, we get to see a bit of Baba Yaga, Mad Mis, waterhorses, wolf versions of selkies, and so much more.

I think Mad Mis and Foxfire were both my favorites from the collection but there wasn’t one story I didn’t find enjoyable. [Though I mean, I can see why Baba Yaga did not particularly welcome that protagonist from her story, I almost half-wished she’d been frightened to death lol]

Women are allowed to be wild, they are allowed to feel to make choices that only men seemed to be able to make in the original tales. They have decided to take their lives in their own hands, to return to the earth and run through forests. And I thought that’s what made this book so beautiful.

Not to mention, this book is a great read for October, a bit of a spooky/witchy read just in time for Halloween. I loved it, five cups of coffee from me and my absolute adoration.

Thanks to Anne and September Publishing for a copy of this in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the blog tour.

The Illustrations

About the Author

Dr Sharon Blackie is a writer, mythologist and psychologist, and an internationally recognised teacher of the mythic imagination. Her bestselling book, If Women Rose Rooted, won a 2016 Nautilus award, and laid out a haunting heroine’s journey for every woman who finds power, inspiration and solace in the natural world.  She has an international following through her online communities, and the courses and workshops she offers through ‘The Hedge School’.  Her first novel, The Long Delirious Blue, was described by the Independent on Sunday as ‘hugely potent’. She lives in Connemara, Ireland. 

Author’s Website

Website

Author’s Other Works

Sharon Blackie’s titles available from September publishing:  The Enchanted Life (ISBN 978-1910463888, £14.99) and If Women Rose Rooted (978-1-912836-01-7, £8.99 paperback published August 2019)

The Rest of the Tour