Description
Book SynopsisCarmel had been alone all her life. The baby knew this. They looked at each other, and all of time was there. The baby knew how vast her mother's loneliness had been.
'A magnificent novel' SALLY ROONEY, author of Normal People
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. And 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.
***A THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023***
***ONE OF THE BBC’S ’25 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023’***
'One of our greatest living novelists' THE TIMES
'Might just be her best yet' LOUISE KENNEDY, author of Trespasses
'Gem-packed language... A must-read' MARGARET ATWOOD (via Twitter)
Trade ReviewThe Wren, The Wren is a magnificent novel. Anne Enright's stylistic brilliance seems to put the reader directly in touch with her characters and the rich territory of their lives -- Sally Rooney, author of NORMAL PEOPLE
The Wren, The Wren may be her best book yet * Guardian, *Books of the Year* *
Wonderful… This deceptively modest novel is
the kind of book that will work on you long after you have put it down * Sunday Times, *Books of the Year* *
These pages practically crackle with intelligence, compassion and wit. Phil McDaragh is so real I almost googled him.
The Wren, The Wren might just be Anne Enright's best yet -- Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses
Anne Enright’s
The Wren, The Wren is
so good they named it twice, so good I read it twice – and read two different novels, because moral positions are incorrigibly plural in Enrightville * Observer, *Books of the Year* *
Gritty, sad, sly, riotous...
Gem-packed language that fizzes like a sidewalk firecracker. A must-read -- Margaret Atwood, author of THE HANDMAID'S TALE (via Twitter)
The Wren, The Wren is
Anne Enright at her lyrical, storytelling best -- Nicola Sturgeon * New Statesman, *Books of the Year* *
This is the golden age of Irish prose fiction. Of our many prodigiously talented novelist,
few have the all-encompassing deftness of touch of Anne Enright * Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year* *
One of my books of any year. It’s about womanhood, youth and that slow, painful, but joyous estrangement that emerges between mother and daughter as life runs its tumultuous course -- Michael Magee * Observer, *Books of the Year* *
A work of astounding ventriloquism and hard-won hope about women’s lives * Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year* *
