A dark, feminist retelling of 'The Children of Lir' told in Sullivan's hypnotic prose. AÔife marries Lir, a king with four children by his previous wife. Jealous of his affection for his children, the witch AÔife turns them into swans for 900 years. Retold through the voice of AÔife, Savage Her Reply is unsettling and dark, feminist and fierce, yet nuanced in its exploration of the guilt of a complex character.