In these visceral, stunningly crafted stories, people are effortlessly cruel to one another, and the natural world is a primitive salve. Here, women are domestically trapped by pre-dictatory men, Ireland s folklore and politics loom large, and poverty material, emotional, sexual seeps through every crack.

A wife is abandoned by her new husband in a ghost estate, with blood on her hands; a young woman is tormented by visions of the man murdered by her brother during the Troubles; a pregnant mother fears the worst as her husband grows illegal cannabis with the help of a vulnerable teenage girl; a woman struggles to forgive herself after an abortion threatens to destroy her marriage. 

'A dazzling, heartbreaking debut collection' Guardian

'Kennedy's voice, and her unforgiving gaze, are electric' Sunday Times

'These stories sing, haunt and inspire laughter ... One of the best collections I've read in years' Sinead Gleeson

A TIMES, IRISH TIMES AND IRISH INDEPENDENT HIGHLIGHT FOR 2021