The Irish Goodbye

(Paperback)

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Three adult sisters reunited at their childhood home must confront a shared tragedy in The Irish Goodbye - the devastatingly beautiful debut novel from Heather Aimee O'Neill. It's been years since the three Ryan sisters were all home together at their family's beloved house on Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a tragic accident on their brother Topher's boat that drove him to suicide. Now, the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, but each carries a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, is still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, when she rekindles a flame with her high school crush, Topher's best friend. Middle sister, Alice, has been thrown a curveball threatening her career and, potentially, her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk to bring the woman she loves home to her devoutly Catholic mother. When Cait invites a guest to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves - and each other.

Reviews

The Irish Goodbye has it all: a lovable cast of complex characters; forbidden affairs; a stately, crumbling beach house; a doomed sailboat; long-suppressed family secrets; and one pressure-cooker of a holiday weekend. Above all, this finely-crafted novel explores what it means to be a family, and what we owe each other and ourselves -- Amy Shearn, author of The Mermaid of Brooklyn
A sparkling debut, The Irish Goodbye is a rich, compassionate novel about sisterhood, marriage, grief, and forgiveness -- Jenny Jackson, author of Pineapple Street
The family saga we all needutterly un-put downable, beautifully drawn, thrilling and heartfelt at once and totally not to be missed. Heather Aimee O'Neill has arrived with gorgeous skills and a keen eye for what drives families apart, and brings them together, too -- Jessica Soffer, New York Times bestselling author of This Is a Love Story
Lovingly rendered and acutely felt, The Irish Goodbye takes the reader into the aching, complicated nooks and crannies of a single family trying to find their way back to one another, even as none is sure they have hold of themselves. A beautiful and moving debut -- Lynn Steger Strong, author of The Float Test
Emotionally gripping and achingly poignant, The Irish Goodbye is about the secrets we keep from our families and from ourselves. In the Ryans, Heather Aimee ONeill has created a family that, despite its glimmering specificity, could very well be our own. Mesmerizing -- Daisy Alpert Florin, author My Last Innocent Year

Author Bio

Heather Aimee O'Neill teaches creative writing at CUNY Hunter College of New York and is the assistant director of the Sackett Street Writers' Workshop. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their sons.