Publisher Description A fierce, electrifying novel inspired by the tru storyof the first woman to be condemned as a witch in thrteenth-century Ireland, a woman with poweris a woman to be feared. Alice, the daughter of a wealthy innkeeper in Kilkenny, grows up watching her mother whither away under the constraints of family responsibilities-and she vows that she will never suffer the same fate. In time, she discovers that she has a flair for making money, and takes her father's flourishing business to new heights. But as her riches and staure grow, so too do rumors of her private life. By the time her fourth husband-the three earlier are dead-a storm of local gossip and resentment culminates in a life threatening accusation... A breathtaking act of imagination, Bright I Burn gives voice to a woman lost to history, who dared to carve a space of her own in a man's world.