Scenes of a Graphic Nature: 'A perfect page-turner ... I loved it' - Dolly Alderton

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From the author of Promising Young Women - 'Whipsmart and witty' Marian Keyes 'Brilliant' Dolly Alderton - comes a darkly comic and moving novel about going back to your roots - and digging up demons.

'Do you know what cead mile failte means'

'A hundred thousand welcomes.'

'Not a hundred thousand homes. Not a hundred thousand "stay here's".'

Charlie Regan's life isn't going forward, so she's decided to go back.

After a tough few years floundering around the British film industry, experimenting with amateur pornography and watching her father's health rapidly decline, she and her best friend Laura journey to her ancestral home of Clipim, an island off the west coast of Ireland. Knowing this could be the last chance to connect with her dad's history before she loses him, Charlie clings to the idea of her Irish roots offering some kind of solace. But she'll find out her heritage is about more than cliches and clover-foamed Guinness.

When the girls arrive at Clipim, Charlie begins to question both her difficult relationship with Laura and her father's childhood stories. Before long, she's embroiled in a devastating conspiracy that's been sixty years in the making . . . and it's up to her to reveal the truth of it.

With a sharp eye and sour tongue, Caroline O'Donoghue delivers a delicious contemporary fable of prodigal return. Blisteringly honest, funny and moving, it grapples with love, friendship and the struggle of second-generation immigrants trying to belong.

Reviews

I loved it . . . whipsmart and so witty - Marian Keyes, on Promising Young Women

So brilliant . . . It couldn't really be more timely - Dolly Alderton, the High Low Podcast, on Promising Young Women

Funny, clever, upsetting, fierce and absolutely of its time. A future classic - Jane Casey, on Promising Young Women

Anyone who enjoyed Jami Attenberg's All Grown Up or Sally Rooney's Conversations With Friends will find much to like in Caroline O'Donoghue's darkly funny novel - Irish Independent, on Promising Young Women

Bluebeard crossed with The Yellow Wallpaper neck-deep in zeitgeist - Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti, on Promising Young Women

The cleverest, funniest and most assured debut novel I've ever read - Daisy Buchanan, author of How to Be a Grown-Up, on Promising Young Women

In the inventive O'Donoghue's follow-up to Promising Young Women, she turns her tart tongue on friendship, exile and what it feels like to return to a place that no longer feels like home - The i

I was so hooked on this beautiful, funny story of homecoming and self-discovery I didn't want to put it down. The characters are wonderfully drawn and the sense of place is so compelling - it is a mystery, a fireside yarn. There is a little Maeve Binchy in there, a little Keyes, but Caroline has her own voice, and the edge to Charlie and Laura - their difficult, funny and recognisable relationship - is all her own. - Keith Stuart, author of The Boy Made of Blocks

Author Bio

Caroline O'Donoghue is a New York Times best-selling author and the host of the award-winning podcast Sentimental Garbage. She has written two novels for adults, Promising Young Women, which was shortlisted for the AN Post Irish Book Awards - Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year, and Scenes of a Graphic Nature, which was longlisted for the Ondaatje Prize. She was also longlisted for the supernatural series for teenagers, All Our Hidden Gifts. She was born in Ireland and currently lives in London.