A hagtale, a dark fable, a fireside story, known to Shakespeare, but unwritten. Until now.

In eleventh-century Scotland, feral wolf-child Wulva is brought up by witches and then sent to live at a Scottish castle, where she falls under the spell of cruel, ambitious Lord Macbeth.

Three hundred years later, gentle Brother Rowan goes on a strange and perilous journey to a remote and ancient monastery to write a history of the Scottish king-line.

Misfits in their own time, seekers after truth, Wulva and Rowan are mysteriously connected despite the centuries that separate them.

Hagtale explores the power of stories lost and found, their transformative potential, and who gets to be the owner of the tale.


'This vivid novel features a wolf child, a crazed warlord and a walking forest, conjuring a world where nature is alive and wild, and human nature is cruel and deadly. Giving new life to the old fireside yarn that inspired Shakespeare's Macbeth.'
-Eithne Farry, The Irish Daily Mail

'A strange, epic, haunting tale.'
-Chetna Maroo, author of Western Lane

'A haunting novel, beautifully written. Sally O'Reilly has the ability to evoke whole landscapes in few words and to create characters whose lives are inseparable from the nature they inhabit. I was captivated by the stories of her two protagonists and of the land itself. A truly unusual read.'
-Susanna Jones, author of When Nights Were Cold