We Are Not in the World: ‘compelling and profoundly moving’ Irish Times - Hardcover

O'Callaghan, Conor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0857526855 ISBN 13: 9780857526854

Publisher: Doubleday, 2021

Synopsis

'Stylish, deft...an absolutely fascinating novel' Guardian

'Haunting, mesmerising, and so deeply intelligent' Kamila Shamsie, author of Women's Prize for Fiction winning Home Fire

'Powerful...compelling and profoundly moving' Irish Times

'Heartbreaking, sweetly logical and tentatively hopeful' Spectator

Heartbroken after a long, painful love affair, a man drives a haulage lorry from England to France. Travelling with him is a secret passenger - his daughter. Twenty-something, unkempt, off the rails.

With a week on the road together, father and daughter must restore themselves and each other, and repair a relationship that is at once fiercely loving and deeply scarred.

As they journey south, down the motorways, through the service stations, a devastating picture reveals itself: a story of grief, of shame, and of love in all its complex, dark and glorious manifestations.
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What readers are saying:
***** 'The prose is sublime and deeply moving . . . a stunning novel'
***** 'Beautifully written, lyrical and unsettling in its exploration of human frailties, family, love, and loss, grief'
**** 'A haunting, tragic and highly original story of a father and daughter travelling across England and France in a haulage truck, and discovering more about their relationship and past in all its raw candour'


MORE PRAISE FOR WE ARE NOT IN THE WORLD:
'Unusual, utterly original and mysterious . . . a must read' Elaine Feeney
'...the book stays with you, a haunting presence you cannot - and do not want to - escape...astounding.' Ruth Gilligan Extraordinary...achingly sad and tender and sexy, and the writing is very beautiful.' Louise Kennedy
'Wonderful, wrenching . . . full of enormous feelings very precisely rendered' Sara Baume
'Elusive, unsettling, beautiful, haunting. This is a complex, devastating study of human relations; a portrait of intense love and damage in equal measure.' Lisa Harding
'A whirlpool of memories, regrets and hopes' Tim Pears
'An uncanny ability to turn the seemingly insignificant into something monumental' Jan Carson

About this title

About the Author

Conor O'Callaghan is originally from Dundalk, and now divides his time between Dublin and the North of England. His critically acclaimed first novel Nothing on Earth was published by Doubleday Ireland in 2016.

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0857526855
• ISBN 13: 9780857526854
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272