Solace

McKeon demonstrates a real wisdom in this book which will appeal to readers both young and old, and a command of style and structure which will make this a much-loved and a treasured book by readers everywhere – Colm Tóibín, author of Long IslandA story told with clear-eyed compassion and quiet intelligence about what it is to grow up and grow away, about the difference between “here” and “home”. Solace lives up to its title: this is a lovely debut – Anne Enright, author of The GatheringShe writes with a precision that is moving without being sentimental. She is superb on the inarticulate coming-to-terms between a father and his son. Patient to a fault, this author demands patience from her reader, but it is the kind of patience that is worth cultivating * The Sunday Times *Powerful and beautifully paced. It’s a revealing portrait of contemporary Irish life with a cast of convincing, complicated, real characters. I was totally gripped – Catherine O’Flynn, author of What Was LostAn excellent musing on families and relationships … She hooks the reader with words unsaid; stolen glances; simmering anger – which hold the heaviness of a lifetime of buried emotion, but also of unconditional love … Solace is a warm and wise debut from a new literary talent * The Economist *It is a remarkable debut. She has the ability to reveal deep and complex emotions with extraordinary simplicity – Clare Morrall, author of Astonishing Splashes of ColourSolace is a gentle, haunting meditation on the bonds of family and, ultimately, what it means to love * Sunday Express *A fine example of the modern Irish novel … An irrepressible power runs through the finely crafted text … This is a beautifully small story that loses none of its intimacy by encompassing the breadth of a country and acknowledging an entire generation * The Sunday Times Ireland *Solace is an elegant, consuming and richly inspired novel. Like all good stories, it’s a love story. It just so happens that it’s also lovingly told. A superb debut. This one will last – Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World SpinAt once a moving and gracefully etched story of human loss and interconnection set in contemporary Ireland and a deeply affecting meditation on being in the world * The Irish Times *Few Irish debuts have been as praised as Belinda McKeon’s Solace and, given her assured prose and unsentimental yet empathetic storytelling, it’s little wonder … Tentative, tender and effortlessly moving * Metro *Eloquent precision is everywhere in the novel … McKeon has obviously learned a great deal from the likes of McGahern and Colm Tóibín, but she has taken the lessons of these masters and constructed something that is very much her own * Sunday Business Post *McKeon keeps all the plates spinning, plotting in perfectly timed cliffhangers … and draws you into the lives of the Caseys and the Lynches with grace. Her prose style is simple to the point of plain yet it illuminates her characters with the intensity of a searchlight … Solace is impossible to put down * The Sunday Herald *

Belinda McKeon, an award-winning playwright, was born in Ireland in 1979. She studied literature at Trinity College, Dublin, and is a contributor to The Irish Times. McKeon has an MFA from Columbia University and lives in Brooklyn with her husband.