Filly

October 2025, novel-in-verse, forthcoming from Banshee Press

Everything about Mrs W was wide –
her shoulders, her breasts, her chin.
She mainly wore blazers
and dark brown boots, though once,
for Halloween, she dressed
as Charlie Chaplin with a moustache
and bowler hat. Her swagger
made my thighs clench.

Filly is a gripping and genre-bending coming of age story centred on Orla, who 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 charismatic English teacher Irene Wall for a love affair both passionate and annihilating. Written with Taylor’s trademark earthy lyricism, Filly is an exploration of intergenerational love and trauma, and an explosion of queer joy.