The Wren, The Wren

Carmel had been alone all her life. The baby knew this. They looked at each other, and all of time was there. The baby understood how vast her mother's loneliness had been.

This contemporary novel of daughterhood and motherhood is from the Booker Prize-winning Irish author.

Sally Rooney, author of Normal People, describes it as "a magnificent novel." Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses, states it "might just be her best yet." Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale, praises its "gem-packed language" and calls it "a must-read."

Nell, funny, brave, and so much loved, is a young woman with adventure on her mind. As she sets out into the world, she finds her family history hard to escape. For her mother, Carmel, Nell's leaving home opens a space in her heart, where the turmoil of a lifetime begins to churn. Across the generations falls the long shadow of Carmel's famous father, an Irish poet of beautiful words and brutal actions.

This is a meditation on love: spiritual, romantic, darkly sexual, or genetic. A multigenerational novel that traces the inheritance not just of trauma but also of wonder, it is a testament to the glorious resilience of women in the face of promises false and true. Above all, it is an exploration of the love between mother and daughter—sometimes fierce, often painful, but always transcendent.

The Times calls the author "one of our greatest living novelists.".