Midnight Court

Banned and beloved in equal measure, The Midnight Court is a canonical eighteenth-century text widely considered to be one of the greatest comic Irish poems. Despite its simple storyline, Merriman’s poem addresses a wide range of themes from its satirical treatment of sexuality to its biting social commentary. This volume, the first critical edition, offers readers a fluid translation and five essays that contextualize the poem, making it an ideal text for any student of the poem and eighteenth-century Irish literature.

Midnight’s Court is a tender and whimsical story about an outdoor cat becoming best friends with an indoor cat. Midnight lives outdoors under the shed with his Mama and Aunt. Willow lives indoors with The People, Ray and Mary. The story unfolds with each cat trying to understand what it’s like to live indoors or outdoors, while their worlds are separated by a sliding glass door. As Midnight grows up he faces some difficult choices during his adventures. He has to cope with some unforeseen circumstances and unwanted surprises as new characters are introduced to his Court.

Urban fantasy and slow burn romance wrapped into a serial that will keep you up reading long into the night. Strange bedfellows rock worlds. My days as Faery’s reluctant regent have crashed and burned. Either I left the land to rot in a squalid soup of broken promises, or I destroyed her enemies one by one. No choice there. Not really. I’d known some of those “enemies” since childhood, which was centuries ago. They say familiarity breeds contempt. In my case it bred sorrow as I consigned Fae who’d been friends to eternal destruction and fed them to the land. Dariyah, the Witch-who-wasn’t-one, crossed my path for reasons I’m still figuring out. Her long-lost mother presided over one of Faery’s many dirty secrets, the Midnight Court. Some like to believe Fae blood is pure. It’s not. We and the Sidhe are joined at the hip, and the Midnight Court was once a living symbol of our bond. I’ll fight to maintain a magical world that’s open to all. If I’m quick, ruthless, I might beat Oberon at his own game. Sly bastard that he is, he still holds the link to Faery. If I can’t wrest it from him, the land—my land—will wither and fade.

Irish literary heavyweight Frank O’Connor translates the ribald and raucous Gaelic masterpiece in a work originally banned by the Irish government. As a teacher and translator of Irish verse, Frank O’Connor brought to the world’s attention many fine poems from his native land, few as enduring—and none as controversial—as Brian Merriman’s The Midnight Court. An eighteenth-century masterpiece widely recognized as the greatest comic poem in Irish literature, The Midnight Court is a hilarious and insightful take on the battle of the sexes. In the court of a fairy queen, the men and women of Ireland air their grievances with one another. The competing lists of complaints are as long as they are uproarious, and when the queen rules in favor of the women, all young Irish bachelors are doomed to a terrible fate: marriage. The Midnight Court has now taken its rightful place in the Irish literary canon, but when O’Connor’s English translation was first published in 1945, the Irish government banned it as obscene. In a delicious irony that might have been lifted from one of O’Connor’s short stories, the Gaelic original met with no censure. Here, as it first appeared, is Frank O’Connor’s faithful, funny, and eloquent translation of one of the most important works in Irish literature.

Award-winning edition of this outstanding translation of Brian Merriman's eighteenth-century erotic masterpiece. Translated by Frank O'Connor Illustrations by Brian Bourke.

The most reviled monarch in English history or a man caught between the forces of light and darkness, pushed by circumstance into the vilest of crimes

In the second installment of the bestselling Glittering Court series, Richelle Mead goes beyond the glitz and glamour, delving into the dark, political underbelly of their world through the eyes of one girl who dares to fight for her freedom. A refugee of war, Mira was cast out of her home country and thrust into another, where the conditions were inhospitable at best. In a life-altering twist of fate, she is given the chance to escape once more, and she takes it, joining the Glittering Court. For a select group of girls, the Glittering Court offers a shot at a life they’ve only ever dreamed of, one of luxury, glamour, and leisure. But for Mira, it means further persecution, not only from her fellow Glittering Court jewels, but from her suitors, as well--men she would potentially be expected to give her life to. By day, she goes through the motions, learning the etiquette and customs that will help to earn her anonymity, even making a couple true friends in the process, the forthright ladies' maid Adelaide and the ambitious laundress Tamsin. But by night, Mira hatches a different plan entirely--one that, if exposed, could get her hanged in the highest court of Adoria. Midnight Jewel is the extraordinary story of a girl with few options who courageously forges a new path, finding love, passion, lifelong friendships, and maybe even a way to freedom.