Lillis leaves behind 1990s Dublin for a summer job working at a lodge in a small lochside village in the Scottish Highlands. Leaving Dublin is a way to escape her sorrow and despair following the death of her boyfriend and a testy relationship with her mother, Verity. In Scotland she encounters love and excitement but when a series of unexpcted events turn her new found life on its head, she is forced to make a life-changing decision, one thay will stay with her for the rest of her life. The Closet of Savage Mementos is drawn directly from the author's own experiences and explores heartbreak, loss, motherhood and a adoption in a gripping narrative and the same exciting prose we have come to expect of Nuala Ní Chonchúir.

 ‘It’s taken her years to find the courage to write about the romance that led to her becoming a single mother. The result is her finest novel yet…The Closet of Savage Mementos is Ní Chonchúir’s most confident, gripping and marketable work yet… Ní Chonchúir recently pleaded, in vain, with the Bailey’s Women Prize for Fiction to accept Irish-published books. It’s a pity, since Mementos would stand a good chance of being nominated. “I’m still amazed when people say they like the book,” admits Ní Chonchúir. She may save those blushes for the louder praise heading her way.’   The Sunday Times

‘Ní Chonchúir began her writing career as a poet, and the lyrical influence is obvious from the start…It is difficult to write sex well. but Ní Chonchúir manages to strike a delicate balance between passion and poetry…The Closet of Savage Mementos is a book that will appeal to, and deserves, a wide audience.’  Sunday Business Post

‘[An] engaging book…In this most readable novel, Ní Chonchúir explores how our past shapes and informs our present… there are layers here and depths.’   Irish Independent

'A new novel from Nuala Ní Chonchúir comes with one expectation above all – it will be good, very good…Compelling and deeply accomplished, The Closet of Savage Mementos is the product of a powerful literary talent.       Cork Evening Echo