Roisín O'Donnell’s stunning debut novel, an exploration of grief and love from Adrian Duncan, and historical fiction from Joseph O’Connor are among the brilliant book releases coming throughout January.
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife, by June O’Sullivan
Poolbeg, 9 January
Limerick-born, Kerry-based author June O’Sullivan is known for her short stories and historical fiction, and her debut novel comes in the form of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife. Set in 1967, the story follows Eliza Carthy as she moves to the remote island of Skellig Michael with her husband and sons, with no way of communicating with the mainland.
The island is exposed to extreme changes of weather and the landscape is fraught with danger. When Assistant Keeper Edmund and his wife Ruth arrive, Eliza hopes for respite. But her new neighbours are not what she’d expected. They blow hot and cold, seemingly wanting Eliza and her family to leave Skellig Michael, and making her question her sanity. Will Eliza be able to keep her family safe at the edge of the world? And can her marriage survive all that the island throws at them?
Good Girl, by Aria Aber
Hogarth, 14 January
This electric coming-of-age debut novel revolves around the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of self-discovery, painting a portrait of the artist as a young woman set in a Berlin that can’t escape its history.
In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, nineteen-year-old Nila at last finds her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist.
Nesting, by Roisín O’Donnell
Scribner, 16 January
Award-winning writer Roisín O’Donnell won the prize for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards back in 2018, and now her debut novel is finally here. Nesting is a tense and beautiful story underpinned by an unassailable love, hope and resilience.
On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe. What will it take for Ciara to rebuild her life? Can she ever truly break away from Ryan’s control – and what will be the cost?
Confessions, by Catherine Airey
Viking, 23 January
Cork-based Catherine Airey grew up in England in a family of mixed Irish and English descent and her remarkable debut has been described as a feast of family drama, flowing prose and psychologically compelling characters.
It is late September in 2001 and the walls of New York are papered over with photos of the missing. Cora Brady’s father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. Her mother died long ago and now, orphaned on the cusp of adulthood, Cora is adrift and alone. Soon, a letter will arrive with the offer of a new life: far out on the ragged edge of Ireland, in the town where her parents were young, an estranged aunt can provide a home and fulfil a long-forgotten promise. There the story of Cora’s family is hidden, and in her presence will begin to unspool.
Disappoint Me, by Nicola Dinan
Transworld, 23 January
Nicola Dinan made her debut in May of last year with the novel Bellies, and she’s making her return this month with another addictive title. Max is thirty, a published poet and grossly overpaid legal counsel for a tech company. She’s living her best life! Or is she?
The debris of years of dysphoria and failed relationships rattle around in her head. When she tumbles down the stairs at a New Year’s Eve party and wakes up in hospital alone, she decides to make some changes. First things first: a stab at good old-fashioned heteronormativity.
Hero, by Katie Buckley
Tinder Press, 25 January
This captivating literary debut takes place over seven days as a woman wrestles with a marriage proposal and what it means for her personal and creative freedom. She’s a waitress. He’s a chef. They used to be best friends, but now, they’re in love. She’s also a selkie, a siren, Odysseus, Persephone, Helen of Troy, a Tudor queen, and a cowgirl called Quick Fingers. He’s a really good man.
When he asks her to marry him, Hero panics. She may be a lot of things but the one thing she doesn’t want to be is anybody’s wife. He gives her one week to decide, so to gather her thoughts, she begins to write him a letter. It is both the story of how they fell in love, of who she is and why marriage fills her with equal parts delight and terror.
The Ghosts of Rome, by Joseph O’Connor
Harvill Secker, 30 January
Irish author Joseph O’Connor returns with The Ghosts of Rome, which is set in 1944, just six months after Nazi forces occupied Rome. Inside the beleaguered city, the Contessa Giovanna Landini is a member of the band of Escape Line activists known as ‘The Choir’. Their mission is to smuggle refugees to safety and help Allied soldiers, all under the nose of Gestapo boss Paul Hauptmann.
During a ferocious morning air raid a mysterious parachutist lands in Rome and disappears into the backstreets. Is he an ally or an imposter? His fate will come to put the whole Escape Line at risk.
The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth, by Adrian Duncan
Tuskar Rock, 30 January
Award-winning Irish artist and writer Adrian Duncan’s forthcoming novel explores love and grief while finding their resonance in works of art. During the winter season in a secluded Alpine city, John Molloy, an Irish restorative sculptor, meets Bernadette, an enigmatic Italian sociologist. As John falls in love, a distressing moment from his youth rises into view, the disastrous fallout of which has reverberated unchecked through his life.
Years later, a letter from home arrives, asking him to pray for the speedy death of an ailing friend. Over a day-long odyssey through the ancient streets and churches of Bologna, John is forced to confront his present, his past and the bedrock of his psyche. A delicately crafted novel of two halves, a decade apart, The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth is a masterful excavation of human desires, inhibitions, and the patterns of habit to which we unwittingly fall prey.
Sweat, by Emma Healey
Hutchinson Heinemann, 30 January
All Liam ever wanted was to help Cassie reach her full potential; to push her body to new extremes. Exercise, determination, being the optimum versions of themselves together forever. And Liam always knew what was best.
Nothing could break their intense love for one another, not Liam’s obsessive desire for physical perfection or his relentless control of every aspect of Cassie’s life. Until the day he pushes Cassie far beyond her limits and she walks out of their flat and away from their toxic relationship for good. Two years on and Cassie is stronger, fitter and healthier than ever before. And then she sees him – Liam – those green eyes, those stirring muscles. Something inside her flips.
But she holds the power now. It’s Liam’s turn to sweat.
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