A HISTORY OF RUNNING AWAY
John Murray Press
This beautifully written novel is urgently contemporary in its concerns but is also a quietly compelling exploration of the notions of home and belonging. Paula McGrath is a wonderful storyteller with a vivid sense of place and person. But, more than that, what she's shedding light on is important'(Joseph O'Connor)
'A thoroughly modern, engaging and sophisticated novel' (Liz Nugent)
'McGrath captures Dublin of the 1980s perfectly . . . Ambitious, both structurally and narratively, and elegantly written' (John Boyne, Irish Times)
'Elegant . . . Compelling reading' (Daily Mail)
'The writing is fluid and accessible, the dialogue and setting authentic, proving Paula McGrath both a consummate storyteller and an excellent observer of human interactions' (Sunday Independent)
'A keen eye for both poignancy and humanity' (Irish Independent)
In 1982, Jasmine wants to box, but in 1980s Ireland boxing is illegal for girls.
In 2012, a gynaecologist agonises about a job offer which would mean escape from the increasingly fraught atmosphere of her Dublin hospital. But what about her mother, stuck in a nursing home?
And in Maryland, Ali, whose mother has recently died, hooks up with a biker gang to escape from grandparents she didn't know she had.
'A brilliantly-written novel about running away, growing up and finding out who you are, from the author of Generation'
GENERATION
JM Originals (John Murray) / Quai Voltaire (La Table Ronde)
A debut novel about how decisions reverberate through the generations.
'A remarkable first novel.' Sunday Times
'She takes a step closer to the mineshaft and it's as if she steps back in time. Her grandfather is standing where she is standing now, a young man not much older than she is, who knows nothing about the future, nothing about her.'
Generation is a short novel that contains a huge amount, taking place over eighty years, three continents and three generations.
At its heart is Áine, a recently divorced woman in her thirties who wants some kind of escape from her life in Ireland: from her ex-husband and his pregnant girlfriend, her mundane job and unexciting love life. So she goes to stay for a few weeks on an organic farm near Chicago, with her six-year-old daughter Daisy. The trip doesn't turn out as she imagined it would, and that summer will have unforeseeable consequences for everyone involved.
Ambitious and gripping, Generation moves effortlessly from the smallest of details to the largest of canvases, as the repercussions of the decisions taken by parents play out in the lives of their children for years to come.