Bright I Burn

Author: Molly Aitken

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 19 June 2025 by Canongate Books in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 304 pages
129 x 198 x 20mm | 216g

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2024A BBC BEST BOOK OF 2024In thirteenth-century Ireland, a woman with power is a woman to be feared.

When a young Alice Kyteler sees her mother wither under the constraints of family responsibilities, she vows that she won't suffer the same fate. Soon Alice discovers she has a flair for making money, and builds a flourishing business. But as her wealth and stature grow, so too do the rumours about her private life. By the time she has moved on to her fourth husband, a blaze of local gossip and resentment culminates in an accusation that could prove fatal. Inspired by the first recorded person in Ireland to have been condemned as a witch, Bright I Burn gives voice to a woman lost to history, who dared to carve her own space in a man's world.