In Ordinary Time: Fragments of a Family History

(Hardback)

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In 1993, aged twenty, Carmel Mc Mahonleft Ireland for NewYork,carrying two suitcases anda ton of unseen baggage. It took years, and abitterstruggle with alcohol addiction, to unpick theintricate traumas ofher past and present.

Candid yet lyrical, In Ordinary Time mines the ways that trauma reverberates through timeand through individual lives,drawing connections to the events andrhythms of Ireland's long Celtic, early Christian and Catholic history. From tragically lost siblings to the broader social scars of the Famine and the Magdalene Laundries, Mc Mahon sketches the evolution of a consciousness - from her conservative 1970s upbringing to 1990s New York, and back to the much-changed Ireland of today.

Reviews

Mc Mahons personal story is the unifying strand in a bigger, constantly shifting narrative that explores complex cultural and historical terrainSean OHagan, Observer

Absolutely gripping in lucid prose that is both direct and lyrical, she burrows through layers of family history and Irish historyIrish Times

'A vivid, evocative and resonant counterpoint of time, memory and meaning'Joseph O'Connor, award-winning author of Shadowplay

A beautiful memoirRyan Tubridy, RT Radio 1

A raw, urgent book, its narrative stretched across the year, from Imbolc (the Feast of St Brigid) to Samhain, as it traces love, loss and all else. An extraordinary debut already being likened to Doireann Ni Ghrofas A Ghost in the Throat but this is shaped by its own hauntingsRT

'Stunning. A work of great emotional and intellectual heft Truth and honesty shine out of every lineMary Costello, author of Academy Street

'Provocative yet dazzling... A mesmerising work threaded with rich veins of history and heart'Sophie White, Irish Independent

Beautiful, compelling, thought-provoking An uncompromising reflection on what it means to be of Irish heritage today, whether at home or abroadTara Flynn

Painfully familiar in its account of family loss and trauma in the urban working class, and personal enough never to feel like a survey or aerial view of Irish womens history. Sensitively written and quietly devastating, its the book I had been waiting forNiamh Campbell, award-winning author of This Happy

'In Ordinary Time is the best kind of memoir, a braid of the personal and political, the spiritual and global'Cameron Dezen Hammon, award-winning author of This is My Body

'Magnificent... Spare, pristine, bracing a marvellous book'Carlo Gbler, author of Confessions of a Catastrophist

'Quietly addictive, deeply moving and enlightening'Priscilla Morris, author of Black Butterflies

A beautifully-written memoir. Its a deeply personal, largely confessional work, in which McMahon ties together strands of her life in New York and Ireland with elements from mythology and history, particularly the often horrific history of Irish women. Anyone who has ever emigrated from Ireland will recognise her compelling descriptions of separation from family and land, the freedom that emigration offers and the enormous lossJaki McCarrick, author of Belfast Girls

We can move consciously towards healing. And we can begin by talking. In Ordinary Timeis that conviction in action... a must readOlivia Cole

The peace I discovered reading In Ordinary Time came from the reminder that the cycles were all in can be broken, and they can also be repairedMaeve Higgins, Irish Examiner

The fragments of her New York life seem carefree alongside the shocking events endured by her family in this beautifully crafted memoir which left me wanting moreThe Gloss Magazine

'Carmel's book is so intelligent, yet so accessible'Grace Bailey, host of San Clemente podcast

Author Bio

Carmel Mc Mahon grew up in County Meath, and lived in New York City 1993-2021, when she returned to Ireland's west coast. A graduate of CUNY, her writing has been published in the Irish Times and shortlisted for the Hennessy Literary Award.