The Burning of Bridget Cleary: A True Story

Bridget Cleary fell ill, then disappeared from her cottage in rural Tipperary. Even before she vanished, rumors circulated that she was a changeling, left behind by fairies or evil spirits. The "real" Bridget would return on a white horse. Then her badly burned body was discovered in a shallow grave, and her husband, father, aunt, and four cousins were arrested and charged with her murder. The fate of Bridget Cleary became a cause scandaleuse in turn-of-the-century Britain and Ireland. The murder trial of Cleary's husband and family made a sensation in the new mass media and played directly into the Torys' hands during the debate over Home Rule -- confirming the lingering fears about the savage Irish peasantry. Angela Bourke, an expert in the Irish oral tradition and a gifted storyteller, combines historical detective work, acute social analysis, and meticulous original scholarship. Bridget's "sin" seems to have been that she was pretty, clever, assertive, and flirtatious. Her story il