Filly

by Rosamund Taylor

From acclaimed poet Rosamund Taylor comes a compelling, genre-bending coming of age story. Orla is discovering her sexuality in the hostile and misogynistic world of Ireland's school system; when her friend Muireann rejects her advances, she turns to her online community for support, and her charismatic English teacher Irene Wall for a love affair both passionate and annihilating. A novel in verse telling a story of sexual awakening, masochistic love, and the transformative possibilities of communities that transcend binaries, Filly introduces two unforgettable characters in Orla and the complicated and magnetic Irene Wall. Written with Taylor's trademark earthy lyricism, Filly is an exploration of intergenerational love and trauma, and an explosion of queer joy.

Genres: Poetry, Lesbian, Ireland, Queer

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2025

About the author

Rosamund Taylor’s first collection In Her Jaws, was published by Banshee Press in May 2022, and shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Poetry Prize for a First Collection and longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. In 2025, she is published Reflections Glimmer: Poems Exploring Ekphrasis (Tapsalteerie Press) and Filly, a novel-in-verse (Banshee Press).

A selection of her poetry won the Mairtín Crawford Award at the Belfast Book Festival in 2017. Her poem 'The Proof' won the London Magazine Poetry Competition in 2020; in 2023, her poem 'Why Whistlejacket?' won the Telegraph Poetry Competition, and in 2025 her poem 'Beryl' won the Rialto Nature and Place poetry competition. Her work has been broadcast on RTE radio’s The Poetry Programme and on BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please.

She has published over fifty poems in Ireland, Canada, the US and the UK. Recently, her poems have appeared in Fourteen Poems, Mslexia, The Butcher’s Dog, The Rialto and Poetry Ireland Review as well as numerous anthologies, including 'Queering the Green' and 'He She They Us.'

Reviews

[Sarah Tighe · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an English teacher I was uncomfortable

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh this was GORGEOUS - i love a verse novel!! more pls!!!

[Maebh Delahunty · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Mrs W once asked, 'which one's Muireann again?'
I couldn't believe I. Didn't light
fall more brightly
on her than on anyone else?"

[Ciaran Campton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mild spoilers below

TLDR: unnerving, desperately sad, but moments of joy do shine through.

I think I need to read this more than once, and not in two sittings like I did this time. It's been a while since I've read much in the way of poetry so a re-read where I give each stanza a bit more time to breathe may be an idea.
I wasn't totally sure what I was getting into as it was reccomended for a book club, and the blurb didn't make me hugely excited to read about a student sleeping with her teacher. Fortunately, the book doesn't romanticize it, even if Orla does in the early parts. I'm not sure how much sympathy the author wants the reader to have for Irene, but I don't find much in myself.
When Orla goes to Uni and meets new people, especially Ella, I was delighted, and even more so when Orla finally goes to visit Valerie at the end of the book. Anything to get her and keep her away from Irene.
I found the book captivating, and compelling enough that I did read it in two short sittings, though perhaps reading it in even shorter bursts over a longer period may help.

[isa]

i wonder if it is possible for anyone to start this and not end it in the same day ? i could not let it go. this is very good. i thought it was going to be something completely different, and i am glad it wasn’t. this is a heartbreaking tale. very raw, feels very real and visceral. i appreciate all elements of this so much, from the lyricism to the characterisation and especially how rosamund taylor does not mince words about how awful SA is in its many shapes and forms.
i had never considered a fictional narrative in the poem form. my heart has been open to the many possibilities of literature once again. everyone go read this rn!!!! but not before checking TWs. 🍵

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was honestly a lot more intense and descriptive than I thought it would be. There were some brilliant moments of friendship and understanding and some moments that made me put the book down and just stare into space for a few moments. I loved the raw emotion and friendship between Orla and Valerie and seeing Ella’s ending was so lovely!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate Irene Wall but the epilogue made me content!

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really a poetry person and therefore expected this to be a challenge, but it wasn't too abstract to read like a novel. Easily got the general ideas and the parts that I didn't 'get' sounded very nice anyway. Lots of references to books I'm not familiar with, but I didn't feel like I missed anything there as they're all very interpretive. Better read readers probably see more than I did though.

For the first few chapters, I was thinking "I shouldn't have worried about throwing away all my angsty teenage journals because someone else has published them anyway". Brought me right back to the worst parts of my own school days, setting a familiar backdrop for Orla's story of sexual trauma. It's a clear warning of how an average teenager can be easily pushed over the edge. And, when that happens, how easy it is for them to fly under the radar. In the world of 'traumatised youth' novels, parents like Orla's (stable, supportive, loving) are fairly uncommon, but of course real world kids do suffer despite having great parents. Powerful contrast between Orla's adult role models: Mum teaching her innocent daughter to cook one day, teacher teaching her to drink and fuck the next.

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first novel! From friends and family is has attracted comments such as:

-- When you said you were writing a novel in verse, I thought it would be very boring, but actually I had a really good time reading this.

-- I didn’t know poems could be so explicit.

-- I like how much of this takes places in people’s kitchens.

-- I read this in an airport and it made me forget I was in an airport.

-- I hated that teacher so much I had to go and lie down for a little while.

-- You could definitely show this to people and not feel embarrassed about it.

-- God almighty, it says ‘vulva’ on every page.

It turns out it’s quite hard to write a novel so I’m giving myself five stars for effort.

[Ellie Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best fiction books that I have picked up in some time. Taylor uses an exceptionally interesting narrative style and this only adds to the pleasure of reading it. You cannot help but to love the main character and follow her along on her journey of her accepting her sexuality, engaging in relationships and navigating her own mental health. The dynamic between her and her English teacher was exceptionally uncomfortable, yet it's impossible not to root for the main character and hope for her perspective to change. This was absolutely fantastic, I couldn't stop reading this.

[sonjas27 · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I bought this book I didn't realise it was all in verse, but it ended up being even more impactful because of that. Such a heartbreaking and healing (later on) coming-of-age story that reminded me a lot of 'Sunburn', which was also set in Ireland around the same period and explored a lot of the same themes. The friendships between Orla and Valerie and Orla and Ella were so heartwarming <3.

[Janet Forrest · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject content made me very uncomfortable as a teacher, but I also loved the writing style and it explores a lot of important conversations about depression, self-harm, identity and sexuality. But also, Mrs W needs to be fired from teaching and she needs to get her shit together.

[The Fake Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect novel-in-verse. I was mesmerised by Taylor’s distinct voice and storytelling. I read Filly in two sittings, only stopping to remind myself that Mrs W isn’t a real English teacher I need to track down and report 💀

[Goldfishing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Affecting and effective, some bits I could barely read

[J.lilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Chelsea Halligan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this made me so so uncomfortable but I couldn’t put it down. I’ve also bought everything on the reading list