….I identify as “Irish” and I know so little about being Irish (IMO) despite being Irish, growing up in an Irish neighborhood and having a name that couldn’t be mistaken for anything but Irish.
The book I’m reading is called “The Burning of Bridget Cleary” by Angela Bourke. Yes, this book has to do with the literal burning of a woman. The book is an attempt to analyze the reasons why this burning occurred, at the hands of Bridget’s own family, back in Co. Tipperary back in 1895. The author explores superstitious beliefs in fairies and attitudes toward “unconventional” women and childless women, in particular.
Had I been born in Ireland back then, I wonder if they would have burned me?
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