This Must Be the Place
A Novel
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4.1 • 294 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
An irresistible love story, an unforgettable family. The New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet captures an extraordinary marriage with insight and laugh-out-loud humor in what Richard Russo calls “her breakout book.”
Daniel Sullivan leads a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn, and his wife, Claudette, is a reclusive ex–film star given to pulling a gun on anyone who ventures up their driveway. Together, they have made an idyllic life in the country, but a secret from Daniel’s past threatens to destroy their meticulously constructed and fiercely protected home. Shot through with humor and wisdom, This Must Be the Place is an irresistible love story that crisscrosses continents and time zones as it captures an extraordinary marriage, and an unforgettable family, with wit and deep affection.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This portrait of a marriage from the author of Hamnet is beautifully written, emotionally complex—and often very, very funny. Daniel Sullivan is an Irish American linguist living in rural Donegal with his wife, Claudette, a former movie star who has withdrawn from public life. They’ve built a fiercely private happiness raising their kids together (though Claudette occasionally greets unexpected visitors with a shotgun). But when a voice from Daniel’s past reopens an old heartbreak, his carefully managed life shifts in ways he couldn’t imagine. Moving across decades, continents, and viewpoints with easy confidence, O’Farrell builds not just a love story but a whole ecosystem of parents, children, ex-lovers, siblings, and ghosts. The structure is playful, the writing sharp, and the emotional insight devastatingly precise. This Must Be the Place is an absolute gem, proof that literary fiction can read as easily as a poolside rom-com and still pack a wallop.
Customer Reviews
Book of the Year
The story is about a couple’s relationship—a man with a long ago secrete that continues to haunts him, and an independent, morally convicted woman, who flees her life as a glamorous film star. Both with children from previous marriages, they fall in love and create a complete life for all of them that shatters when the secrete is revealed. Over time, through anguish and despair, they try to reconcile that which seemed irreconcilable.
Another beautifully written book.
A few years ago, a friend of mine recommended I read Hamnet, describing it as “ a gorgeous book”, which it was. Since then, I’ve become a devoted Maggie O’Farrell fan, and am working my way through her earlier books,all distinctly different in style and story, but absorbing — keeping my up through the wee hours to finish. I love THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, and like the others hated to see it end.
Quite a novel
Enjoyed this clever, feeling story. Intricate writing.