Holding Her Breath

Eimear Ryan author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd

Published:24th Mar '22

£8.99

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Holding Her Breath cover

SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN MCGAHERN PRIZE 2022

This critically acclaimed debut will be a guaranteed hit with literary fiction lovers this Christmas.


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A young woman comes of age in the shadow of her family's tragic past

When Beth Crowe starts university, she is shadowed by the ghost of her potential as a competitive swimmer. Free to create a fresh identity for herself, she finds herself among people who adore the poetry of her grandfather, Benjamin Crowe, who died tragically before she was born. She embarks on a secret relationship - and on a quest to discover the truth about Benjamin and his widow, her beloved grandmother Lydia. The quest brings her into an archive that no scholar has ever seen, and to a person who knows things about her family that nobody else knows.

Holding Her Breath is a razor-sharp, moving and seriously entertaining novel about complicated love stories, ambition and grief - and a young woman coming fully into her powers.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2021

SHORTLISTED FOR THE KATE O'BRIEN AWARD 2022
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'A stunning debut from this new Irish talent' STELLAR

'A beautiful coming-of-age story told with impressive skill and lightness of touch . . . I absolutely loved it' LOUISE O'NEILL

'Whip smart observations and addictive prose' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

'Precise, sure, engaging, and a joy to read' RODDY DOYLE

'A moving debut with a satisfying conclusion' IRISH INDEPENDENT

'Brilliant, vivid - I enjoyed this book ENORMOUSLY' MARIAN KEYES

'Enthralling' IMAGE

'A nimble account of student life with a darkly enjoyable undercurrent of secrecy and emotional turmoil' SARA BAUME

'A truly compelling read, and one I wholeheartedly recommend' BUZZ

'Through the dark sky of our times, Eimear Ryan arrives like a comet, a bright talent scorching through every page' DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA, author of A Ghost in the Throat

'Brilliantly realised, gripping, and moving . . . This is absolutely the real thing' KEVIN POWER

'Written with a wonderful clarity and insight, Holding Her Breath lingers in the imagination. Beth's unravelling and re-ravelling is drawn with great skill and empathy. A brilliant debut' DONAL RYAN

Funny, dark and unexpected -- Kevin Power * The Last Word with Matt Cooper *
A stunning debut from this new Irish talent, as well as being an exciting page turner it's also a perfect depiction of how it feels to be lost as you embark on a new chapter of your life * Stellar *
From the first sentence to the last, this is a great piece of writing - precise, sure, engaging, and a joy to read -- Roddy Doyle
Richly accomplished . . . a true pleasure to read -- Dermot Bolger * Business Post *
A moving debut with a satisfying conclusion * Irish Independent *
Through the dark sky of our times, Eimear Ryan arrives like a comet, a bright talent scorching through every page. To read this book is to feel it blaze to life. I can't stop thinking about it -- Doireann Ní Ghríofa, author of A Ghost in the Throat

ISBN: 9781844885473

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 16mm

Weight: 181g

256 pages