Grand

A natural storyteller with a Sedaris-like eye for black humour. There are sharp splinters of comic relief … compelling and nuanced – Edel Coffey * Irish Times *Desperately funny, hysterically sad, so beautiful and so humane. All of life is in it. I utterly adored it – Meg MasonGrand hooked me like a fish … a tale of recovery and growth [and] deep, deep love * New York Times *Exquisitely written … profoundly moving. And like all great memoirs it is hilarious in parts. If, like me, you love the personal essays of Sinéad Gleeson and Emilie Pine, you’ll adore this * Sunday Independent *A really vivacious account of frayed family relationships across decades and around the world * Financial Times *Remarkably funny, honest and often sad … there’s a whole pile of un-maudlin heart and a whole lot of love here * Sunday Independent *A searingly honest memoir, as close to the bone as it is to the heart – Maia DunphyDeeply moving and surprisingly funny * Irish Examiner *I loved it! The writing is stunning. Noelle McCarthy has an incredible knack for sharing the darkest of memories with a lightness of touch. You won’t want to put this book down, but once you do, every gorgeous word will haunt you. Beautiful and compelling – Tara FlynnSavagely brilliant * Business Post *

Noelle McCarthy is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. “Buck Rabbit”, her first foray into non-fiction, won the Short Memoir section of the Fish Publishing International Writing competition in 2020. Since 2017, she and her husband John Daniell have been making critically acclaimed podcasts as Bird of Paradise Productions. She has provided commentary for radio and written for the Irish Times, the Independent and the Irish Examiner. In New Zealand, she has written columns, reviews, first-person essays and features for a wide range of media including Metro, the NZ Herald and Newsroom. She is the International Institute of Modern Letters Writer in Residence for 2023.