Tangled tales of earth, salty tales of water

Bewitched retellings of thirteen classic fairy-tales with brave and resilient heroines.

Written by the award-winning Deirdre Sullivan.

Tales of blood and intrigue, betrayal and enchantment from a leading Irish YA author – not for the faint-hearted or damsels in distress.

With 13 stunning black and white illustrations by new Irish illustrator Karen Vaughan.

PRAISE FOR TANGLEWEED AND BRINE

‘Exquisitely written and powerful… I’m enchanted by it’ – Marian Keyes, author

‘Deirdre Sullivan’s writing is beguiling, bewitching and poetic. Her prose is almost dreamlike, reminiscent of Angela Carter.’ – Juno Dawson, author of The Gender Games

‘Witchy, eerie and beautiful. These thirteen fairytale retellings already feel like feminist classics.’ – Claire Hennessy, author of Like Other Girls

‘Sullivan’s prose is delicate and masterful, but there’s a belligerence to it as well – these stories demand that we go as deeply with our reading as she has in her writing – that we listen to the women at the heart of these stories, that we see the shadows beneath the trees.’ – Dave Rudden, author of Knights of the Borrowed Dark

‘Dark, intimate and poetic, these stunning feminist fairy tales give voice to the witches and the wicked queens and twist the familiar into something salty and seductive, offering a collection of stories you’ll feel like you know in your bones.’ – Moira Fowley-Doyle, author of Spellbook of the Lost and Found

‘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.’ – The Times Literary Supplement

‘This remarkable book is a significant and timely contribution to Irish young-adult literature and feminist literature for young people. Deirdre Sullivan’s simultaneously rich, delicate and stark text is powerfully enhanced by Karen Vaughan’s haunting black and white illustrations. Combining the timeless allure of dark fantasy with subversive explorations of female embodiment and systems of women’s suffering and triumphs, this incisive, exquisite collection promises an enthralling and unsettling experience.’ – Judges at the Children’s Books Ireland Awards

‘Deirdre Sullivan’s terse and stark renditions of fairy tales in Tangleweed and Brine challenge us to rethink what the destinies of young women were in traditional fairy tales, and she spells out what they might really be in other times and settings. Sullivan’s original stories are riveting and offer readers unusual perspectives on how to read fairy tales in times of conflict.’ – Jack Zipes, author of The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Social and Cultural History of a Genre

'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

‘A compelling collection of fairytales retold in the rugged and earthy Angela Carter mode, with Karen Vaughan’s illustrations making it a classy gift edition. These bright girls don’t bother going to balls, and play a long game of challenging their archetypes.’ – The Guardian

‘Witchy, subversive and lyrical, it’s fairly dark but is another top-notch addition to the fabulous Deirdre Sullivan’s back catalogue, and a particularly unique addition to this year’s Irish YA.’ – The Paper Alchemist Blog

‘While remaining true to the bloody and gothic eeriness of the originals, Sullivan places the suffering and triumphs of women front and centre. In the face of domestic and sexual violence, child abuse and traumatic pregnancy, Sullivan’s heroines are often their own saviours, taking comfort in the wisdom and love of maternal ancestors …All of Sullivan’s female characters are complex and vital, and all have the capacity for love, goodness and, most engagingly, violence. Tangleweed & Brine is a stunning book in every way. Dark, deep and thoughtful, it is a collection to be visited again and again.’ – TN2 Magazine

‘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’ – The Guardian

‘The haunting lyricism of the prose gets under your skin as you are drawn into the unfamiliar familiarity of each tale. Each story is unexpected and disconcerting, from hearing the witch’s perspective in the rewritten Hansel and Gretel to discovering Snow White’s sinister ambition as she tries to usurp her step-mother’s power. Throughout, Sullivan makes the reader question female characters’ agency in their own stories and the tales that emerge are surprising and fresh.’ – The Scotsman

‘ I haven’t often been surprised or entranced since discovering Angela Carter. And now comes Tangleweed and Brine … a lyrical beauty of a book. Leave plenty of time to savour each story, to let it sink in, before tackling the next. Let the women who have so often been portrayed as the small, white defenceless things reveal their secret power and the determination to pull themselves free. Inspirational, poetic and beautiful.’ – Writers Review 

Chosen for the Top Ten Fairytale Collection for Children by Books for Keeps 

‘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.’ – Achuka, included in the roundup of Best Books of 2017

‘Exquisite inside and out. Visually Tangleweed and Brine is a book that want to own for the beautiful cover, the feel and layout – never mind the illustrations, which are marvellous.’ – Luna’s Little Library

‘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’ – Inis Magazine

‘This remarkable book is a significant and timely contribution to Irish young-adult literature and feminist literature for young people. Deirdre Sullivan’s simultaneously rich, delicate and stark text is powerfully enhanced by Karen Vaughan’s haunting black and white illustrations. Combining the timeless allure of dark fantasy with subversive explorations of female embodiment and systems of women’s suffering and triumphs, this incisive, exquisite collection promises an enthralling and unsettling experience.’ – Judges at the Children’s Books Ireland Awards

‘This is one of my top reads this year and is definitely going to become a permanent favourite with future rereadings…This book will linger with you for a long time and will reveal more and more depth with subsequent re-readings. Deirdre Sullivan and Karen Vaughan are a dream team here as the ink illustrations perfectly complement Sullivan’s gorgeous prose.’ – Chrikaru Blog

‘I am completely in love with this book. It is near flawless in its execution and words cannot express how highly I recommend it to all lovers of beautiful prose and old style fairytales.– Emer, a Goodreads Review

Goodreads review

‘A stunning collection of fairytale retellings that sends shivers down your spine and sets your heart to aching. The prose is vivid, lyrical, and poetic — exactly what you’d expect from a writer like Deirdre Sullivan. I cannot recommend this highly enough.’ – Aoife, a Goodreads review

‘I’m not sure I can express how incredible a collection this is. Tangleweed and Brine is a feminist masterpiece.’ – Sigourney, a Goodreads review

‘Tangleweed and Brine is just a work of art. Powerful, thought-provoking and gorgeous. It’s a beautiful homage to the fairy tales we’ve all come to love, but also full of the harsh truth of the treatment of women.’ – Joanne, Goodreads review
Want to know a little more about author Deirdre Sullivan? Read this article on Female First – 10 Things I’d Like My Readers to Know About Me