Marginalia(the study of notes people leave written in their books) is a growing area of academic study. Future readers of my personal copy of "The Cooper's Wife is Missing" will find that I have several notes relating to rambling, incoherent sentences and grammar errors that an editor should have found before the book went to press. The book wanders repeatedly away from its subject, the trials of Bridget Cleary, and dabbles into Celtic folklore and Irish History. I am a fan of both, but the authors of this book do a poor job of making clear the connections between Bridget and Irish History and Myth. I understand their point, but someone not as interested in Ireland would have put this book down long ago if they were looking for a story( which was why I actually picked it up myself.) If you stick with the story, the idea of Bridget's case being used as a reason for Britain to keep the Irish in subjugation is interesting, but it requires great patience and an ability to translate horrendous grammar to do so.

I thought this book was broken into two disconnected parts that did not work well together-- the trials of Bridget Cleary and the historical happenings during this time period. I found myself skimming through the chapters that detailed the history of Ireland during this time period and looking forward to the chapters related to Bridget Cleary. This novel was too much like a school textbook with boring and wandering descriptions of the historical times of Ireland. The relevancy of these historical descriptions to the trials of Bridget Cleary was exaggerated by the authors.

In 1895 a relatively unimportant incident occurred in a rural part of Ireland that literally was used by the British to overstate the superstitions and backwardness of the the Irish nation thus depriving the Irish of any possibility of Home Rule at that time.

Bridgit Cleary, the wife of a barrel maker was suspected by her friends and relatives of "conversing" with the fairies. Many of the rural people somewhat believed in spirits and thought that the fairies convened in a wood near the Cleary "residence". When Bridgit returns one night and does not look herself, they suspect she has been possessed by the fairies and is a changeling. Various herbs are tried in an attempt to "exorcise" Bridgit. When these fail the last resort is fire and Bridgit is held into the fireplace. She expires and all those present at the "exorcism" are put on trial. Indirectly, the Catholic Church is also "on trial" being held responsible for the superstitious nature of the Irish population. The whole experience becomes somewhat of an international news item propagated by the British for the aforementioned purpose. The group is found guilty and given various sentences. The most severe, ten years in prision, is placed on her husband

This book is a wonderful review of the Irish struggle for independence. Irish patriots and sympathetic British statesman are depicted. The harshness of the British during famines is also underlined. On the lighter site, several fanciful tales regarding the faries are related.

At the back of the book there is a very complete set of notes for anyone wishing to pursue topics in greater detail