Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is now recognised as one of the masters of the short story form. Midwife to the Fairies reveals her progress as a story writer over the years since she first began to work in this genre. Ranging from the ultra realistic 'Some Hours in the Life of a Witch'� to the surreal fantasy world of 'Fulfilment'� and 'The Wife of Bath'�, the stories describe ordinary and not so ordinary life, and the lives of women in particular, in the feminist and post-feminist era in Ireland.

Midwife to the Fairies is a selection of the best stories from the author's first two collections, Blood and Water and Eating Women is Not Recommended, which were published to acclaim in the 1980s, and features three new, previously unpublished works. The short stories are introduced by the eminent literary critic and academic, Dr Anne Fogarty.