Fiona MacLeod

The Sin Eater, The Washer of the Ford and Other Legendary Moralities Fiona MacLeod

An edition combining The Sin Eater (1895) and The Washer of the Ford (1896) with four added tales not in the first editions - including the remarkable weird fantasy "Ahaz the Pale" about an Amazon warrior. This omnibus includes some of the best Macleod weird tales. "The Washer of the Ford" is a winnower of souls; "The Harping of Cravetheen" is one of the most grotesque heroic fantasies ever written; "The Dan-nan-ron" regards the musical power to control the moods & will of others; "Green Branches" is a tale of a murdered brother's ghostly return; "Sin-Eater" regards Celtic magic; and many other great tales. A Scottish poet and man of letters, William Sharp (1855-1905) wrote a series of well-regarded novels representative of the "Celtic Twilight" school popularized by William Butler Yeats under the nom-de-plume Fiona Macleod, a pseudonym that Sharp never publicly acknowledged. Sharp even composed a fictional biography of Macleod for publication in "Who's Who" and exchanged correspondence with such notables as George Meredith, Robert L. Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, and Dante G. Rossetti, sometimes as William Sharp, and sometimes as Fiona Macleod. In part two of this memoir, compiled by Sharp's wife from his diaries and letters, the story of his dual-identity is made public and explained for the first time.