A dark re-telling of the ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ legend.

Fael Miller’s father, Tod, is an egocentric has-been – a song-writer who still feeds on the glory of his one success. Many years on, he’s found a backer for a new musical, but, faced with reality, discovers in panic that he can no longer write. He turns to his daughter for help, but although Fael can think of several storylines, she is unable to construct a full stage musical.

Then one evening, she’s accosted by a mysterious young man wearing a black cloak and mask. He claims he can help her. And so begins Fael’s secret alliance with the man she calls Scathach – the Gael word for “shadow”. Scathach proposes a pact – he’ll write the music but she’ll incur a debt which one day she must honour.

Between them they weave a glittering, eerily beautiful story which goes into rehearsal. But while Fael falls deeper under Scathach’s spell, he is secretly planning a dark vengeance – a vengeance that takes Fael to the remote and menace-filled house on Ireland’s west coast, where the debt must finally be paid.