Confessions
The beautiful new literary debut about secrets, womanhood and family, set between Ireland and New York
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4.0 • 6 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2025*
‘A remarkable debut’ MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER, bestselling author of THE PAPER PALACE
'A cool, bold image of female pain and liberation' GUARDIAN
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.
'An irresistible read' YAEL VAN DER WOUDEN, Booker-shortlisted author of THE SAFEKEEP
'Propulsive and utterly captivating . . . airey has shades of the American novelists Donna Tartt and Jeffrey Eugenides in her style' IRISH TIMES
'An intricately woven epic, Confessions is both intimate and expansive, a novel that teems with raw, hungry life' COLIN WALSH, author of KALA
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Secrets and unplanned pregnancies shape the lives of two generations of women in Airey's bold and intricate debut. Cora Brady, 16, is orphaned when her father, Michael, dies in the 9/11 attacks. She spends weeks in a daze in New York City until she receives a letter from her aunt Róisín, the younger sister of her late mother, Máire, offering to take care of her in rural Donegal, Ireland. There, Cora learns she's pregnant. The narrative then flashes back to Róisín and Máire's teen years in 1970s Ireland, where Máire works as an artist for an ecofeminist group in their village. The group connects Máire with an opportunity to study at NYU, but her first semester is derailed after she visits her roommate Franny's family in Minnesota, where Franny's father rapes and impregnates her. Back in Ireland, Máire's boyfriend, Michael, begins sleeping with Róisín. When he learns what's happened to Máire, he moves to New York to be with her, unaware that Róisín is now pregnant with his child. A final section in 2018 follows Cora's daughter, Lyca, as she pieces together her family's messy history, including what happened to Máire, while Cora travels the world advocating for reproductive rights. Airey crafts a sharp psychological sketch of each woman as they contend with their parallel crises, adding nuance and depth without shying away from making a strong statement for reproductive rights. Readers will be eager to see what Airey does next.
