Night Swimmers: Beautifully written and wonderful Daily Mail

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Description

Grace lives alone in Ballybrady, a little village on the sublimely beautiful east coast of Northern Ireland. She fills her days with swimming, fishing, quilting, and baiting the tourists who arrive from the city with more money than sense. She hasn't left the village since a traumatic stay in London as a young woman at the end of the 1980s. One of the tourists is Evan, taking an enforced holiday from his family and work in Belfast after breaking down after the death of his daughter in infancy. He has come to try to process his grief and make himself desirable again as a husband, a father and a business partner. But he hasn't been there a week until he gets trapped by lockdown. When Grace saves his life in a kayaking accident - if it was an accident - and Evan's troubled son arrives to stay, all three are drawn together in a way that forces a reckoning with their personal traumas and draws them back into society. This is a moving and funny debut novel set in a quirky coastal community you will be desperate to visit after reading. It will appeal to readers of Elizabeth Strout, Maggie O'Farrell and Alice Munro.

Reviews

Beautifully written, full of wisdom and wonderful secondary characters. I loved it * Daily Mail *
Maguire's enthralling story is full of wonderfully deft touches ... a sparkling exploration of mental health and loneliness in the time of lockdown * Independent *
Vivid and lovingly drawn ... radiates warmth -- Suzi Feay * Financial Times *
Full of heart and humour, with two wounded souls, Grace and Evan, at its centre and plenty to say about compassion, community and the power of cold water * Irish Independent *
Grumpy, irascible, sharp-tongued but huge-hearted, utterly at home in her skin, Grace is a force of nature - it's impossible not to be swept up in admiration for her, and for Roisin Maguire, who has written such a warm, unsentimental and beautifully-observed book for our times -- Lucy Caldwell, author of These Days
If I were in bother I'd want the Ballybrady bunch at my back. This is a truly heart-warming story of loss, recovery and above all, of community. Irreverent, unexpected, at times laugh-out-loud funny, it's a joy of a read -- Bernie McGill, author of The Watch House
Exquisitely written, teeming with wonderfully relatable characters and sporting a gloriously eccentric, cranky and memorable 50-year-old heroine, Night Swimmers is one of the most emotionally intelligent novels I've read in a long time -- Dr Sharon Blackie, author of The Enchanted Life
Night Swimmers is superb: a tough, wise, redemptive novel from a writer who knows the perils of the Irish Sea as well as those of the human heart -- Sam Thompson, author of Communion Town
An utterly charming take on community and connection * Image *
Fantastic hero ... 50-year-old Grace is a fabulous character - there's a touch of Olive Kitteridge in her rather misanthropic outlook, yet you can't help but wish the best for her * Good Housekeeping *
A fine debut, unmawkish, infinitely kind * Saga *
Beautifully written * Telegraph Ireland *
A debut that doesn't feel like a debut, a funny, engaging read of life during Covid through the eyes of those already in the midst of personal issues ... It's difficult not to like Grace: irascible and surprisingly cool and warm at the most unexpected moments. Review defies you not to warm to Becky, particularly as she attempts to sign her name to Luca. Quite simply, it's a joy to read * Belfast Telegraph *
Introduces the deliciously scathing and cantankerous middle-aged voice of Grace Kielty ... beautifully written and perfect for fans of Kathleen McMahon * Gloss Ireland *
A wonderful evocation of a small community peopled by brilliantly drawn characters; their kindness to each other unites them. I adored it * Irish Examiner *

Author Bio

Roisin Maguire lives by the sea in Northern Ireland, and holds an MA in Creative Writing from Queen's University. She has worked as a nightclub bouncer, bus driver and primary school teacher - and is a keen scuba diver and fisherwoman who swims every day of the year in the Irish Sea.