Liv 's Reviews > Furies: Stories of the Wicked, Wild and Untamed

virago - a domineering, violent or bad-tempered woman (dictionary definition)

Furies is a short story collection pulled together to celebrate 50 years of Virago as a feminist publishing house. It draws together a collection of feminist writers who offer varied stories that are all themed around words (often negative words) used to describe women:

Dragon, Tygress, Spitfire, Wench, Siren, Hussy, Virago, Wench and the list goes on.

The collection is introduced by Sandy Toksvig who brings her trademark humour and wit to open this collection and starts it off right. I didn't love every story in this collection but I think that's to be expected with such a varied group of contributors and styles.

Some favourites were:
TYGRESS ~ Claire Kodha who is just affirming herself as a brilliant writer as she plays with identity, motherhood, parental/child relationships and magical realism in this story. BRILLIANT.

VIRAGO ~ CN Lester a fascinating approach to the topic of trans histories and gendered identity in history and the patriarchal confines of medical pathologies in history.

TERMAGANT ~ Emma Donohue about a young woman who was a domestic helper during the war finding her role and shunning the role of wife.

The creepiest award has to go to SHE-DEVIL by Eleanor Crewes which was a graphic novel short story (which I thought was SO CLEVER) but UTTERLY DISTURBING as this one had horror vibes about a creepy chair that basically haunted this young woman who picked it up off the street.

Overall I'm so glad I got my hands on this collection and there was so much spirit to it as a collection examining women in all shapes and stages of life (including menopausal and older women in Dragon by Stella Duffy) so I LOVED that aspect of the book. I also really enjoyed these stories over the last couple of weeks entertaining me on my bus ride to work. Thanks so much to @viragopress for the copy. Out now.