Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound

Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound is a short story collection that features strong female characters against a backdrop of ghosts, fairy tales, and urban legends. The thirteen stories subvert the historical narrative of women in fairy tales, positioning them as bold and willing to step into the face of danger. “The Braided Veil” features a young orphan in Victorian New Orleans who seeks revenge upon her mother’s abuser. “Devil’s Oak” addresses the horrors of slavery through the eyes of a young girl who learns that her family owned human beings. “Good Little Girls” takes readers back to childhood in which a sick girl explores her neighbor’s attic on a stormy day; she discovers more than she bargained for. “The Game” features relational aggression in the 1990’s in a “mean girls” style that takes a grizzly turn. “Selkie Skin” leans into Celtic lore, following a young pregnant girl who longs for freedom. “The Ripper Society” reaches back through time to Jack the Ripper’s wife, who discovers his misdeeds and takes matters into her own hands. “She Has Seen the Wolf” is longer story that connects to my novel, The Butterfly Circle; when a graduate student learns she is pregnant, she uncovers her family’s connected history to a haunted home for unwed mothers. In “Roots in the Cove,” a woman in an unhealthy relationship shapeshifts into a bear on a trip to Gatlinburg and finally finds her freedom. Both “Marsh Girl” and “Cicadas in the Suburbs” explore the psychological challenges of suburban life, including postpartum depression and the longing for the magic of youth. In “Honey Tree,” a divorced woman seeks comfort from the bees, and in “Crow Woman,” a widow faces metaphorical death and is reborn. Finally, “Ghost Apples” is a retelling of Snow White from the perspective of the queen; she shapeshifts into a wolf to protect a young girl who has been attacked and seeks revenge upon her abuser.

~A literary horror/fiction short story collection by Mary Carroll Leoson with a foreword by Christopher Barzak. Paperback, hardcover, and digital PDF forthcoming October 31, 2025.

“What distinguishes Mary Carroll Leoson’s work is her ability to inhabit the liminal spaces between myth and reality, past and present, the seen and the unseen. These stories are rooted deeply in the soil of ancestral memory and the landscapes of the American South, yet they reach far beyond that geography into the universal territory of trauma, resilience, and transformation.”  --Christopher Barzak, author of One for Sorrow and A Voice Calling.  

“Each story reads like an old heirloom passed from hand to hand, warm with use and heavy with meaning. The prose is lyrical but never ornamental; the horror, earned. And as the final page turns, it leaves you changed. Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound isn’t just read. The stories linger like the smell of roses at a closed casket.”  --Diane Sismour, author of novels, short stories, and screenplays

“I loved Marguerite in “Devil’s Oak,” her personality shone through, and I found myself rooting for her immediately. I loved seeing her rebel against expectations of femininity. Go, Marguerite!”  -- Janet Alcorn, author of award-winning short stories

“Kate, Bea, and Nana from “She Has Seen the Wolf” are my favorite characters in this standout story of this Devil’s Oak collection; and I could easily see it adapted to television in some way.” --Ada Wofford, Sundress Publications  

“My favorite character and story is Claire in “Marsh Girl,” plus “Good Little Girls” is especially chilling, and I enjoyed “The Ripper Society” so much, I was bereft at the end, hoping for more!” --Jasmine De La Paz, Gothic horror author 

Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound

© 2025 Mary Carroll Leoson

Published by MT Open Press (Blue Crescent Books imprint) at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro  

ISBN (paperback) 979-8-9995864-0-7

ISBN (hardcover) 979-8-9871721-9-3

ISBN (digital PDF) 979-8-9871721-6-2

ISBN (digital epub) 979-8-9871721-7-9

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56638/mtopb00425  

Print-on-demand version (epub, paperback, hardcover) available at https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/mtop   

Follow and review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239910520-devil-s-oak

Leoson, Mary Carroll. Devil’s Oak: Waking the Feminine Wound. MT Open Press, Middle Tennessee State University, 2025. https://doi.org/10.56638/mtopb00425

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial No Derivatives-4.0 International License