Description
Book SynopsisThe highly anticipated novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Pull of the Stars and Room
'This is Donoghue at her strange, unsettling best.' - Maggie O'Farrell, author of Hamnet
'Combines pressure-cooker intensity and radical isolation, to stunning effect.' – Margaret Atwood via Twitter
In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks – young Trian and old Cormac – he travels down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. Their extraordinary landing spot is now known as Skellig Michael. But in such a place, far from all other humanity, what will survival mean?
Haunting, moving and vividly told, Haven displays Emma Donoghue’s trademark world-building and psychological intensity – but this tale is like nothing she has ever written before . . .
One of The Times Books of the Year 2022
One of Easons 'Favourite Book of the Year 2022'.
The Irish Times 'Books to Look Out For in 2022'.
Pre-order Learned By Heart, the dazzling new love story from Emma Donoghue.
Trade ReviewA remarkably engrossing tale * The Mail on Sunday *
This book kept me up half the night - I was unable to put it down, and read it in one spellbound gulp. It is everything a novel should be: compassionate, unpredictable, and questioning.
Haven is Donoghue at her strange, unsettling best. -- Maggie O'Farrell, author of
HamnetBrooding, dreamlike . . . it’s in descriptions of the physical world that Donoghue’s prose soars . . . Likewise, among themes that include isolation and devotion, its ecological warnings are its most resonant. * The Observer *
Quietly beautiful . . . And its subject, of course, is a universal one: we’re all stuck on this rock, trying to keep hold of simple moral truths while quietly losing our minds. As poor young Trian puts it, in one of his darkest moments: “Even this unbearable life is still sweet." * The Guardian *
Donoghue excels in creating not just a world but a worldview that is far removed from our own . . .
this is a bold, thoughtful novel. * Financial Times *
A beautiful and timely novel about isolation, passion and the conflict between obedience and self-preservation. The island setting and the characters stayed with me long after I finished reading -- Sarah Moss, author of
Ghostwall and
SummerwaterDonoghue wrings unlikely psychodrama from such everyday chores of monastic life as copying a manuscript or building a drystone wall. But if that doesn’t grab you, rest assured that
the devastating denouement amply repays the reader’s patience — and has a thing or two to say about modern-day moral panics, too * Daily Mail *
I am already an admirer of Emma Donoghue's writing and this novel had me in its grasp from the beginning. It was so bleak and brutal about the harshness and fanaticism of the monastic life; I was absolutely convinced by her depiction of scratching a life on the bare island and the power play between the trinity of monks, and their motivations and beliefs. I read it in a couple of sittings with a growing sense of foreboding and desperation to know their fates.
A powerful story, brilliantly imagined. * Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures *
Haven creates an eerie, meditative atmosphere that should resonate with anyone willing to think deeply about the blessings and costs of devoting one’s life to a transcendent cause. * The Washington Post *
In 7th C, Ireland, three men set sail to a bird-thick island to find God. EmmaDonoghue combines pressure-cooker intensity + radical isolation, to stunning effect. What is Divine Grace? Purity of soul? Virtue? Not what they think. --
Margaret Atwood via TwitterSinister, heart-wrenching and beautifully written. * The Times *
A grim and grisly tale of monastic privation and isolation in seventh-century Ireland . . .
[Donoghue] deftly captures the elemental nature of the relationship between her protagonists and the natural world; how it’s both their benefactor and their tormentor, a source of life, but also of death. -- Lucy Scholes * The Daily Telegraph *
What a beautiful, intense, blazing, richly-woven yet spartan and unsparing book this is. I couldn’t put it down. Lyrical and then visceral, appearing at one moment tranquil and another so intense it’s like being bitten and clawed . . . it is
both a story about three men of God surviving with almost nothing on an island, and another about dictatorship, isolation, true fraternity, love, the nature of faith and man’s place in the natural world . . . It’s utterly brilliant. -- Rachel Joyce, author of
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold FryWritten in an admirably plain and lucid style,
Haven is slow but ulitamately moving in its revalation of friendhsip and human decency . . . * The Times *
A patient, thoughtful novel with much to say about spirituality, hope, and human failure, and about the miracle of mercy. -- Esi Edugyan, Booker-shortlisted author of
Washington BlackA vivid fictional recreation of the first settlers on the Skellig rocks in the sixth century – the most westerly sacred site in Europe. The descriptions of Atlantic sea life are unforgettable -- Richard Kearney, author of
The Wake of ImaginationHaven is a gentle book, a fascinating exploration of human nature and an
immensely enjoyable read. -- RTÉ
