Firstly, this is a brilliantly written first novel by new Irish author from Kildare - Niamh Boyce. Inspired by a 1940's newspaper clipping about a herbalist arrested for crimes against young girls, Boyce deals with the hypocrisy and closed-mindedness of early twentieth century Ireland. Actually you could argue, that where the treatment of women is concerned, things haven't progressed as much as one would have hoped. One only has to read the UN's review of Ireland's compliance with the ICCPR where committee members severely criticise Ireland’s treatment of women and children, in the past and now; how Irish women are being denied human rights and how they are being abandoned by a State that stigmatises them, treats them as criminals and forces them to leave their country for health services denied to them. Damning yet true. Anyway, in Boyce's novel 1930's Ireland was a dangerous place for our four leading ladies, all of whom become consumed in some way by the dark stranger who moves quietly into their town, their heads and in some cases, their bodies. The women are a mixture of strength, resolve, resentment, suspicion and vulnerability and despite the confusion of the opening chapters, I eventually grew to understand and relate to their predicaments. There is such a sinister undertone to this novel, a reality that is disturbingly complex and hard to accept. The book is interesting and gripping but at times the prose submits to the poetic principle of 'show don't tell' so we are left hanging with incomplete and unfinished details and descriptions and more questions than answers. On the whole though - a good read - it's encouraging to see this calibre of writing coming out of the country.