Tangleweed and Brine: YA Book of the Year, Irish Book Awards

A collection of thirteen dark, feminist retellings of traditional fairytales that follow in the tradition of Angela Carter; stories from Cinderella to Rumpelstiltskin, tales of mermaids and monsters, are given a unique witchy makeover.

Winner of Teen & Young Adult Book of the Year 2017 (Ireland) Winner of Irish Times Ticket Readers’ Choice for Best Young Adult Fiction 2017 (Ireland) Winner of Book of the Year 2018 (Ireland)

“"This absolutely beautifully collection of retold fairy tales is as wonderful to read as it is to look at. Featuring lovely, feminist angles on your favourite fairy tales and beautiful full spread illustrations, it deserves a space on your shelf stat." Buzzfeed "Sullivan muddies the black-and-white narratives, not only with murky endings, but with dark, dangerous, imperfect and even unhinged heroines. In doing so, she makes her fairy tales richer and more fertile, but also more adult... Her language is heavily perfumed with meaning... with its beautiful pen-and-ink illustrations reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley's for Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, it would make a great gift for a teenager." Hattie Garlick, The Times Literary Supplement "A tapestry of retellings and reimaginings, some told in beguiling second person, that foreground women - their desires, powers, fearsomeness and vulnerability ... enriched by Vaughan's sharp, intricate, Beardsleyesque illustrations." Imogen Russell Williams The Guardian "An absolute stunner of a book." Claire Hennessey, The Irish Times”

'An absolute stunner of a book.'

A tapestry of retellings and reimaginings, some told in beguiling second person, that foreground women – their desires, powers, fearsomeness and vulnerability … enriched by Vaughan’s sharp, intricate, Beardsleyesque illustrations.

This absolutely beautifully collection of retold fairy tales is as wonderful to read as it is to look at. Featuring lovely, feminist angles on your favourite fairy tales and beautiful full spread illustrations, it deserves a space on your shelf stat.

Sullivan muddies the black-and-white narratives, not only with murky endings, but with dark, dangerous, imperfect and even unhinged heroines. In doing so, she makes her fairy tales richer and more fertile, but also more adult… Her language is heavily perfumed with meaning… with its beautiful pen-and-ink illustrations reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley’s for Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales, it would make a great gift for a teenager.

Vaughan’s artwork is captivatingly complex and disturbingly mesmeric, harking back to a previous generation of fairy-tale illustrators while significantly contributing to the synergy between this volume’s words and images … In Sullivan’s enthralling renditions the feminine is inseparable from the political and the sexual … An engrossing and terrifying work.

These fairy tale retellings are remarkable: they stop you in your tracks. They make you exclaim ‘What! What did I just read?’ I turned the pages backwards as often as I turned them forwards. The inky woodcut style drawings are an added bonus from Karen Vaughan. They exactly match the text, dark and light, astonishing, flowing.

Deirdre Sullivan is from Galway now living in Dublin and working as a teacher. She has established a reputation as a leading Irish YA author following her hugely praised Needlework, which won the Honour Award for Fiction at the Children’s Books Ireland Awards and was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards. Her Primrose Leary series was also widely acclaimed; two of the Prim books were shortlisted for the Children’s Books Ireland awards; and the final one, Primperfect, was also shortlisted for the European Prize for Literature.

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