Synopsis
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
Helen’s beloved brother Declan is dying. Now, she must join her mother and grandmother in a crumbling old house by the sea, three generations calling an uneasy truce after years of strife, to be by his side. Together with Declan’s friends, who know more about him than any family, they must all deal with the past...
Details
04 April 2024288 pages
9781035029853Imprint: Picador
Reviews
This is the most astonishing piece of writing, lyrical in its emotion and spare in its construction . . . Tóibín has crafted an unmissable read.Sunday Herald
It is in his emotional choreography that Tóibín shows himself to be an exceptional writer. Helen is estranged from both her mother and grandmother . . . Tóibín helps them make peace – and he does it beautifully.Sunday Telegraph
He writes in spare, powerful prose and he is truly perceptive about family relationships which, at times, makes reading his stories incredibly painful. But this is a beautiful novel.Belfast News
We shall be reading and living with The Blackwater Lightship in twenty years.Independent on Sunday
