The Book

           “But the righteous are like carvings upon stone, For their smallest act is durable.” Horace, 65BC – 8BC

The Stone, set in medieval Kilkenny, tells the story of the infamous Dame Alice Kyteler and her son William Outlaw. A hugely rich woman who acted as a moneylender to the nobility, Dame Alice was perhaps better known for marrying no fewer than four husbands and for the accusations of witchcraft which ultimately spelled her downfall.

 In 1324, declarations that Dame Alice was a witch who consorted with demons – and even the devil himself – in order to increase her own wealth and power were voiced by Bishop Richard le Drede. A Franciscan appointed by the Pope at Avignon, le Drede was a powerful and unpopular figure in his own right; in Dame Alice, he more than met his match. The Stone powerfully recreates the terrible and dramatic events of fourteenth-century Kilkenny and imagines Dame Alice’s story from the viewpoint of all who were involved with her case.

Kytelers Inn in Kilkenny, still open today.

St Canice’s Cathedral, where Bishop Le Drede is buried.