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The Secret of the Sleeveen

The Secret of the Sleeveen

By Brenda Ennis, illustrated by Thomas Ryan

First edition, 2013. Cathair na Mart: Evertype. ISBN 978-1-78201-041-8 (paperback), price: €11.95, £10.95, $14.95.

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  Talk of the Sídhe is taboo in her house. But a sneak look at a chart of her family tree puts Aisling in detective mode. Her grandmother, Bláithin, had disappeared long ago and was presumed dead. Were the hot-tempered volatile Sídhe behind it? This Hallow'een she trespasses on their land and plunges headlong into their madcap subterranean otherworld. The capricious, malicious sídhe force a stinging potion (Helleboraster Maximus) down her throat, shrink her small enough to fit in a sliotar, puck her about senseless in a hurling war, and chain her newly found friend Fachtna to the dungeon walls on death row. Risking everything, she sets out to rescue Fachtna and Bláithín before undertaking her own perilous escape. This tale steeped in Irish mythology will delight readers of all ages.  
Sleeveen
  “Will the sídhe be out and about tonight?” Aisling asked, leaning forwards in her chair.

“Yes,” said Granddad.

“In Eamhain?”

“Dún Gréine. That’s their sacred space.”

Dún Gréine was only a ten minute walk from Eamhain. Aisling had picnicked there with her dad. “What do they look like, grandad?”

He put his finger to his lips. “Better not be caught discussing the sídhe,” he said, “or Meg will send you packing and I’ll be in the dog house.”

Aisling laughed. She knew that she and grandad, her buddy, would talk when the coast was clear. She’d tweeze the information from him later. A plan was forming in her mind to borrow a torch and some batteries from grandad’s garden shed, go to Dún Gréine and ask the sídhe if they knew what had happened to Bláithín in 1965. Grandad must have read her thoughts. “The sídhe,” he said with a heavy sigh, “inhabit an alluring parallel world. Keep your snoopy nose out of it or you’ll find yourself sucked right in. Never, ever tamper or trifle with beings from other dimensions. Anyone who has trespassed on Dún Gréine lands on May eve or Hallowe’en has suffered the consequences.”

“What consequences, grandad?”

He frowned, dropped the speech he was working on, glared at her and said: “The sídhe are always on the lookout for young ones like you to work for them below as nurses and midwives.”

 

 
HTML Michael Everson, Evertype, 73 Woodgrove, Portlaoise, R32 ENP6, Ireland, 2013-11-01

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