The Coast Road (paperback)
by Alan Murrin
WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS: NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR 2024
A WOMEN & HOME and NB. MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
'A perfect book club read ... Assured and powerful'SUNDAY TIMES
'A compelling, compassionate page-turner' OBSERVER
'I loved this novel ... An addictive read' GILLIAN ANDERSON
'Moves between rage, forgiveness and hope ... A stonkingly good novel' SARAH WINMAN
'A beautiful, accomplished debut' LOUISE KENNEDY
'Impressive' TLS
'An absolute triumph ... I loved everything about it' GILL HORNBY
It's 1994 in County Donegal, Ireland, and everyone is talking about Colette Crowley - the writer, the bohemian, the woman who left her husband and sons to pursue a relationship with a married man in Dublin. But now Colette is back, and nobody knows why.
Returning to the community to try and reclaim her old life, Colette quickly learns that they are unwilling to give it back to her. The man to whom she is still married is denying her access to her children, and while the legalisation of divorce might be just around the corner, Colette finds herself caught between her old life and the freedom for which she risked everything. Desperate to see her children, she enlists the help of Izzy, a housewife and mother of two, and the women forge a friendship that will send them on a spiralling journey - one toward a path of self-discovery, and the other toward tragedy.
Brilliantly observed from a sharp new literary talent, The Coast Road is a novel about a closed community and the consequences of daring to move against the tide.