The Quiet Whispers Never Stop (Hardback)
Olivia Fitzsimons (author)- In stock
'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 Boyce
In 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.
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
ISBN: 9781529373578
Number of pages: 320
Weight: 516 g
Dimensions: 236 x 158 x 32 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
[A] powerful, uncompromising debut * Irish Times *
Dazzling. The delight Fitzsimons takes in language, and the skill with which she wields it, is evident on every page. A writer of immense talent * Danielle McLaughlin *
Captivating characters and stunning storytelling . . . This is going to be a huge book * Jan Carson *
Utterly absorbing, a novel that keeps you on the page and keeps you guessing right to the end. Taut and clever prose and a cast of characters that feel totally real. A great debut and a writer to watch * Kit de Waal *
It is hard to believe that The Quiet Whispers Never Stop is a debut. Brilliantly observed, smart, bold, funny mad and devastating, Olivia Fitzsimons is such a talent * Elaine Feeney *
A beautifully structured, compulsive, sensual, and sometimes raw read . . . a huge achievement * Niamh Boyce *
Striking . . . an urgent story of love, loss and escape * Michelle Gallen *
A courageous and openhearted testimony to an unsung generation . . . a very fine debut * Alan McMonagle *
A stunning debut * Sue Divin *
A vividly realised book that held me in its grip, and will command your attention * Stephen Walsh *
Olivia Fitzsimons writes about things that most of us are not able to think about. It is almost as if she has excavated this story from one of the most inaccessible parts of the Irish psyche * Louise Nealon *
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“A stunning debut novel”
I almost stopped reading this book several times as Sam's story was difficult for me to read but I am so glad that I stuck with it. The quality of the writing is amazing for a debut and the way the characters... More
“Loved this book”
Beautifully written, with fantastic storytelling, brilliant characters and sense of place that weaves in & illuminates the bigger context. A wonderful debut by an incredibly talented author.
“Powerful”
Not always an easy read, especially for those of us who grew up in NI and know only too well the claustrophobia she presents so authentically. The story was gripping, following Sam and hoping that she would be ok. The... More
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