Jean Rafferty’s most recent book is The Four Marys, published in 2014 by Saraband Books. A collection of four literary novellas, it explores themes of motherhood and identity through the medium of Scottish myth and legend and features shape-shifting, baby-snatching, infanticide and a hanging. Longlisted for a 2015 Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize, it was subsequently given a promotion in WH Smith, which led to a second print run.
‘Through the theme of reproduction, Jean Rafferty unflinchingly reproduces Scottish legends, inscribing them into the contemporary world, so that in sinuous prose the past shimmers to life through the present. The Four Marys is a tremendous achievement.’
Zoë Wicomb, author of October and winner of a 2013 Windham Campbell prize.
ISBN-13: 978-1908643575
 | Jean RaffertyRafferty was formerly a journalist, known for tackling dark and difficult subjects such as suicide, torture, prostitution and abortion. She was shortlisted twice in the UK Press Awards, an unusual distinction for a freelance writer, and won a Rowntree Journalist’s Fellowship for her work on prostitution. Her drive towards challenging material continued in her fiction. Her first novel, Myra, Beyond Saddleworth, published by Wild Wolf, took the premise that Moors Murderer, Myra Hindley, did not die when the authorities said, but was given a new life and identity. Rafferty was heavily criticised for attempting to explore the mind of such a notorious killer, but the book was shortlisted for the 2013 Gordon Burn Prize and she has continued to hold out for her right to write what she wants. Her latest novel, Foul Deeds Will Rise, is about satanist ritual abuse and is set in Orkney, a choice some find provocative. |
