And Notre Dame is Burning

'A beautiful account of one woman's story that shines with the truth of all our stories' Sophie Ward, author of Love and Other Thought Experiments

'A stunning exploration of betrayal' Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure for Sleep

'A heartbreakingly beautiful novel about the beginnings and ends of life and love and marriage, with echoes of Claire Kilroy and Miranda July in its honesty about the female experience. Miriam Robinson is a vital new voice in literary fiction, and I can't wait to see what she does next' Hattie Williams, author of Bitter Sweet

I find myself wondering what would have happened if I had been more clear. If our relationship had not begun with this one tiny untruth.

Time has flattened for Esther.

Her storybook marriage begins, and ends, in the shadow of Notre Dame cathedral. Sifting through the ashes of their years together, a time now collapsed by grief, she finds a mismatched litany: mountain lions, a Paris bookshop, bad dancing, bad faith, marshland, prairieland, miscarriage, motherhood, bagels, Eve.

In order to understand this new story, Esther seeks help - from generations of women, from a book about evolution, from a friendly philosopher/scientist with a solid grasp of the space-time continuum.

Mostly, though, she writes - fragments, notes, letters - tracing a fine line between a story that soothes and one that suffocates; confronting the impossibility of communicating anything in the right way, at the right moment, to her daughter. Esther writes, and rewrites, until time slowly takes shape again.

This extraordinary debut is an excavation of betrayal, of motherhood, of time and timelessness, of guilt and consequence, of love coming to an end. Told with dry wit and a startling ferocity, And Notre Dame is Burning heralds an urgent new voice in literary fiction.

A beautiful account of one woman's story that shines with the truth of all our stories -- Sophie Ward, author of Love and Other Thought Experiments
A stunning exploration of betrayal: the slow-fuse way it burns through mind and body -- Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure for Sleep
And Notre Dame is Burning is sharp and heartbreaking, lit by epiphany and counter-epiphany -- Katharine Kilalea, author of OK, Mr Field
And Notre Dame is Burning is a heartbreakingly beautiful novel about the beginnings and ends of life and love and marriage, told with such deft precision that it feels both like a conversation with your best friend, and like discovering a literary masterpiece. Every single page holds some gem of wisdom. The prose is iridescent; It actually sparkles on the page. There are echoes of Claire Kilroy and Miranda July here, in that this is a wildy honest novel about the female experience. What a thrill to read such an extraordinarily accomplished debut. Miriam Robinson is a vital new voice in literary fiction - I absolutely loved it and can't wait to see what she does next -- Hattie Williams, author of Bitter Sweet

Miriam Robinson is an author who has worked in the world of books and bookshops for over 15 years. Previously the host of podcast My Unlived Life, she holds an MA in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths, University of London and her short fiction has been shortlisted for a Pushcart Prize, the inaugural Pindrop/RA Short Story Prize and the Pat Kavanagh Prize. Originally from Colorado, Miriam lives in East London with her daughter and their six-toed cat Astrid.

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