From the iconic author of The Country Girls trilogy, a modern Irish coming-of-age classic.

'The taboo-breaking, the fabulous prose - there's no one like Edna O'Brien.' Anne Enright
'Novels of heart-breaking empathy, rigorous honesty and peerless beauty.' Eimear McBride
'A profound intelligence spurred on by a tangible, fizzing joy.' Megan Nolan
'Brilliant and brave.' Ann Patchett
'Glittering energy.' Colm Tóibín

After leaving for a religious community in Belgium, a young woman becomes lost in memories of her childhood in rural Ireland, reflecting on the rituals of village life, the people she encountered, the enchanting beauty of the landscape, the concept of home - and the shocking event that led to her departure ...

Edna O'Brien wrote more than twenty celebrated works of fiction, including her classic The Country Girls trilogy, as well as plays and four works of non-fiction, which have been translated into over thirty languages. Her final novel Girl was awarded the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year in 2020. She was the recipient of many honours, including the Irish PEN Lifetime Achievement Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, and the David Cohen Prize for Literature, as well as being appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017. In 2021, O'Brien was also named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Born and raised in the west of Ireland, she lived in London for many years before her death in July 2024.