Published in 2024
272 pages
Sinéad Gleeson is a writer, editor and freelance broadcaster whose essays have appeared in Granta, Winter Papers, Gorse, and Banshee. Her short stories have been published in Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber, May 2019) and Repeal the 8th (Unbound). She is the editor of three short anthologies, including The Long Gaze Back: an Anthology of Irish Women Writers and The Glass Shore: Short Stories by Women Writers from the North of Ireland, both of which won Best Irish Published Book at the Irish Book Awards. Her debut collection of essays, Constellations: Reflections from Life was published in 2019. It won Non Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards and is shortlisted for the 2020 Rathbones Folio Prize.
What is this book about?
The haunting debut novel from beloved, Irish bestselling author, Sinéad Gleeson.
The sea is steady for now. The land readies itself. What can be done with the woman on the cliff?
On a wild and rugged island cut off and isolated to some, artist Nell feels the island is her home. It is the source of inspiration for her art, rooted in landscape, folklore and the feminine. The mysterious Inions, a commune of women who have travelled there from all over the world, consider it a place of refuge and safety, of solace in nature.
All the islanders live alongside the strange murmurings that seem to emanate from within the depths of the island, a sound that is almost supernatural – a Summoning as the Inions call it. One day, a letter arrives at Nell’s door from the reclusive Inions who invite Nell into the commune for a commission to produce a magnificent art piece to celebrate their long history. In its creation, Nell will discover things about the community and about herself that will challenge everything she thought she knew.
Beautifully written, prescient and eerily haunting, Sinéad Gleeon’s fiction debut takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world. A novel from one of our most beloved literary voices, this is perfect for fans of Margaret Atwood and Sarah Moss.
