Olivia Fitzsimons – författare

AN IRISH EXAMINER BOOK OF THE YEARSHORTLISTED FOR THE BUTLER LITERARY AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR THE KATE O'BRIEN AWARD'Touching and darkly beautiful' Irish Sunday Independent'Powerful, uncompromising' Irish Times'Utterly absorbing, a novel that keeps you guessing right to the end' Kit de Waal1982. Northern Ireland. Nuala Malin is tied to a life she doesn't want by her daughter Sam and baby son PJ. An affair with a seventeen-year-old boy reminds her of a future she hasn't given up on, but it can't last, and when her chance to leave comes, she takes it.1994. If Sam Malin has a god then it is Kurt Cobain. Music is the only thing that brings her peace. She wants a life away from the North and its troubles, away from her da who can't talk about the past but seems stuck there, waiting for Sam's mother to return. A mother Sam barely knew.Escape seems out of reach until Sam meets a jagged, magnetic older man, drawn to him in a way she can't yet comprehend.She falls for him, unable to say no.Sam is more like her mother than she knows.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BUTLER LITERARY AWARD 2022'Powerful' Irish Times'Darkly beautiful' Irish Sunday Independent'Captivating' Jan Carson'Dazzling' Danielle McLaughlin'Utterly absorbing' Kit de Waal'Brilliantly observed' Elaine Feeney'A huge achievement' Niamh BoyceIn 1982, Nuala Malin struggles to stay connected, to her husband, to motherhood, to the smallness of her life in the belly of a place that is built on hate and stagnation. Her daughter Sam and baby son PJ keep her tethered to this life she doesn't want. She finds unexpected refuge with a seventeen-year-old boy, but this relationship is only temporary, a sticking plaster on a festering wound. It cannot last and when her chance to leave Northern Ireland comes, Nuala takes it.In 1994, Sam Malin plans escape. She longs for a life outside her dysfunctional family, far away from the North and all its troubles, free from her quiet brooding father Patsy, who never talks about her mother, Nuala; a woman Sam barely knew, who abandoned them twelve years ago. She finds solace in music, drugs and her best friend Becca, but most of all in an illicit relationship with a jagged, magnetic older man.She is drawn to him, and he to her, in a way she can't yet comprehend.Sam is more like her mother than she knows.

'Captivating' Jan Carson'Dazzling' Danielle McLaughlin'Stunning' Sue Divin'Compelling' Stephen Walsh'A huge achievement' Niamh BoyceIn 1982, Nuala Malin struggles to stay connected, to her husband, to motherhood, to the smallness of her life in the belly of a place that is built on hate and stagnation. Her daughter Sam and baby son PJ keep her tethered to this life she doesn't want. She finds unexpected refuge with a seventeen-year-old boy, but this relationship is only temporary, a sticking plaster on a festering wound. It cannot last and when her chance to leave Northern Ireland comes, Nuala takes it.In 1994, Sam Malin plans escape. She longs for a life outside her dysfunctional family, far away from the North and all its troubles, free from her quiet brooding father Patsy, who never talks about her mother, Nuala; a woman Sam barely knew, who abandoned them twelve years ago. She finds solace in music, drugs and her best friend Becca, but most of all in an illicit relationship with a jagged, magnetic older man.She is drawn to him, and he to her, in a way she can't yet comprehend.Sam is more like her mother than she knows.