I started reading this and found the writing a little bit underwhelming and kept losing the thread of the characters. They just didn't interest me. I think it's a kind of magical realism that tends to grate - I wanted to like it and then I felt like I was missing something. Jess Richards with Snake Ropes did a similar thing about a remote island trying to follow old ways, Sarah Winman also with A Year of Marvellous Ways. It all feels like more of the same. The novel plodded for me. I am sure other people enjoyed it though and I will keep my review private since it could not be more positive.

I'm a great fan of fairy tales and folk lore and in The Stolen Child Ms Carey has expertly interwoven both of these with superstition, economic hardship and life on a remote island off the coast of Ireland.

The story is set in 1959-1960 on St Brigid's Island, named after the saint who lived there with her company of women, and who left behind a magical well whose waters are rumoured to heal and bestow miracle.

Emer lives on the island with her alcoholic husband Patch. Her sister Rose is married to Austin, the better looking and harder working brother of her sister's regret. Rose is a happy, fecund young woman who produces sets of twins time and again. Emer, however, is shrivelled and bitter and has the ability to impart a sense of hopelessness and misery on all she touches. It is little wonder that she is avoided by the other villagers.She has one child, Niall, on whom she dotes and who seems immune to the curse of her touch. St Brigid's Island sits uneasily in the middle of the 20th century with the work done and the way of life changed little from the previous century. There is no electricity, no telephone, and bad weather can cut them off from supplies for weeks at a time.

Into this backwater comes an American woman, Brigid, whose mother left the island as a young woman. Her uncle died the year before and she has returned to the island to reclaim the family home and to look for a miracle. She and Emer form an unexpected friendship and Emer learns that she isn't the only one whose touch can effect people.
This is a marvellous book. Brigid symbolises the modern world intruding into the fairy tale world of the island, and her struggle to be accepted can easily be seen as the struggle the islanders have with the modern world which is being forced upon them. Emer, the main character, isn't particularly likeable, but as her story emerges I felt great sorrow and empathy for her. Her actions can be selfish and self-serving, but in a life that has given her little it is easy to understand why she acts as she does.
The author has successfully drawn together so many threads, so many influences - fairy tales, folklore, superstition, religion, traditions and mysogeny - to tell a wonderful story peopled by characters you come to care for.

I look forward to reading more from this talented writer.

Folklore. Fairies. Fear. Superstition. This book has it all.

It is wonderfully written and set on an Island that held the story of St. Bridged and more magic. This is a very enchanting read that holds a lot of secrets and I could not put it down. The Stolen Child is a book I enjoyed and would be one of the books I would re-read in the future.

This book felt like it had many layers to it and needs a re-read to uncover them. A very deep and moving book which I really enjoyed

Nine miles of the west coast of Ireland on a small windswept Isle live twins Rose and Emer. Rose has everything, good looks a wonderful husband and numerous children. Emer however has a husband she does not care for, an eye patch to cover a missing eye, and an abrupt stringent personality that drives most people away. The only good thing in her life is her son, Niall.
When an American, Brigid, appears on the island to take up residence in her Uncles's abandoned house, the lives of Emer and Rose are destined to change forever.
Brigid has one aim, to find the sacred Well of St Brigid, drink the water and have the child she so desperately desires.
Carey intertwines mystical folklore and faeries to write a novel of love, longing and betrayal.