Earth-Bound and Other Supernatural Tales

Cover image by Brian Gallagher
Introduction: Peter Berresford Ellis

Originally published in 1924, the nine tales that comprise Earth-Boundwere written by Dorothy Macardle while she was held a political prisoner in Dublin's Kilmainham Gaol and Mountjoy Prison. The stories incorporate themes that intrigued her throughout her life; themes out of the myths and legends of Ireland; ghostly interventions, dreams and premonitions, clairvoyance, and the Otherworld in parallel with this one. It is so easy to dismiss them, as some have, merely as part of the narrative of "Irish nationalism" of the time, but it is the supernatural elements that make them much more. She would revisit these themes in later works such as her classic haunted house novel The Uninvited (1941). To this new edition of Macardle's debut collection, reprinted for the first time in ninety years, we have added four more tales of the supernatural.

Contents

• Introduction by Peter Berresford Ellis
• "Earth-Bound"
• "Samhain"
• "The Brother"
• "In Prisoner"
• "The Return of Niav"
• "De Profundis"
• "By God's Mercy"
• "The Portrait of Roisin Dhu"
• "A Story Without an End"
• "Escape"
• "The Venetian Mirror"
• "The Black Banks"
• "The Curlew's Call"
• Acknowledgements

Dorothy Macardle (1889-1958) — historian, playwright, journalist, and novelist — was born in Dundalk, Co. Louth. She was educated at Alexandra College in Dublin where she later lectured in English literature. She is best remembered for her seminal treatise on Ireland’s struggle for independence, The Irish Republic (1937), but also wrote novels of the uncanny, including Uneasy Freehold/The Uninvited (1941), Fantastic Summer/The Unforeseen (1946), and Dark Enchantment (1953). She died in Drogheda and is buried in St. Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton.

Limited hardcover