New Irish Fiction

Saskia watches the lives of others from her eyrie in Lavender Square with a lonely fascination. While the teacher, the recluse, the advertising whizz-kid and the African woman and her young son run, rush, dart and dash, she knows for sure that she will never have anything worth dashing to. But sometimes all it takes is a little magic to bring people together. And, in Lavender Square, where the lavender grows in mysterious abundance and colours the air with a musky sense of love, magic is never very far away. The neighbours, who once passed each other by in detached universes, find themselves thrown together when they are obliged to take care of young Patrick Kimba. His mother is seriously ill and no one knows when or if she is ever coming home.

Can he find out the truth about Maud's death before the past - and his strange, unnerving surroundings - overwhelm him? A haunting, atmospheric mystery set against the raw Irish landscape in a country divided, The Winter Guest is the perfect chilling read. Praise for THE WINTER GUEST and W.C.

Crossing continents, cultures, and time zones, Life During Wartime tells the story of a Mother and Daughter at war with each other, of a country deep in a culture war, of a writer at war with himself after a bereavement, and the struggles of a couple to carry on as the political climate around them grows ever darker.

Looking back, Gina's life inevitably divides into before and after, like some predictable diet advert. As she pinpointed the day her world began to shift, wondering if she knew, subconsciously, that something significant was afoot.

The brilliant new novel from the beloved Sunday Times-bestselling author of Orange Blossom Days

'I can't remember ever reading anything so moving .