Ingne Dearga Dheaideo has the variety that readers have come to expect of a Pádraic Breathnach collection of short stories. The opening story, Anam Mná, explores the plight of a mother mourning the loss of her first-born child, and brilliantly captures her devastation and disbelief at what has happened. Iníon describes a father's anxious wait for the return of his wayward teenage daughter from a night out. M'Uncail Máirtín agus Cailleacha Mheiriceá is a wonderful, parable-like tale of two witches in Manhattan who engage in a fierce stone-throwing battle. The author explores a wide range of themes in this collection, including grief, old age, the eternal struggle between tradition and modernity and life through the eyes of a child.
