Catherine Airey

Confessions Catherine Airey

An extraordinarily moving and expansive debut novel that follows three generations of women from New York to rural Ireland and back again

It is late September in 2001 and the walls of New York are papered over with photos of the missing. Cora Brady's father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. Her mother died long ago and now, orphaned on the cusp of adulthood, Cora is adrift and alone.

Soon, a letter will arrive with the offer of a new life: far out on the ragged edge of Ireland, in the town where her parents were young, an estranged aunt can provide a home and fulfil a long-forgotten promise. There the story of Cora's family is hidden, and in her presence will begin to unspool...

An essential, immersive debut from an astonishing new voice, Confessions traces the arc of three generations of women as they experience in their own time the irresistible gravity of the past: its love and tragedy, its mystery and redemption, and, in all things intended and accidental, the beauty and terrible shade of the things we do.

'A remarkable debut. A complex and compulsive read that unravels the intricate twists and revelations among three generations of women with elegance and urgency.' Miranda Cowley Heller, bestselling author of THE PAPER PALACE

'Beautiful, captivating and urgent... I truly could not put it down.

I haven't come across as honest, truthful, compelling, and gripping a writer for decades. The work of a debut novelist that feels like the work of a seasoned and highly accomplished author' Anna Fitzgerald, author of GIRL IN THE MAKING