Catherine Airey

‘A remarkable debut’ Miranda Cowley Heller, bestselling author of THE PAPER PALACE'A cool, bold image of female pain and liberation' GuardianIt is late September in 2001 and the walls of New York are papered over with photos of the missing. Cora Brady’s father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. Her mother died long ago and now, orphaned on the cusp of adulthood, Cora is adrift and alone. Soon, a letter will arrive with the offer of a new life: far out on the ragged edge of Ireland, in the town where her parents were young, an estranged aunt can provide a home and fulfil a long-forgotten promise. There the story of Cora's family is hidden, and in her presence will begin to unspool…An essential, immersive debut from an astonishing new voice, Confessions traces the arc of three generations of women as they experience in their own time the irresistible gravity of the past: its love and tragedy, its mystery and redemption, and, in all things intended and accidental, the beauty and terrible shade of the things we do.'An irresistible read' Yael van der Wouden, Booker-shortlisted author of THE SAFEKEEP'Propulsive and utterly captivating … Airey has shades of the American novelists Donna Tartt and Jeffrey Eugenides in her style' Irish Times

Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize"Confessions is a remarkable debut. A complex and compulsive read that unravels the intricate twists and revelations among three generations of women with elegance and urgency." --Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper PalaceA "dazzling puzzle box of a novel" (Oprah Daily) following three generations of women as decades of secrets spill out of the attic of one family's mysterious old home in rural Ireland--a propulsive, page-turning story about the power of choice. New York City, late September 2001. The walls of the city are papered over with photos of the missing. Cora Brady's father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. When a letter arrives from an aunt she didn't know existed in Ireland with the offer of a new life, the name jogs a memory: an old videocassette game Cora used to play as a child where two sisters must save the students of a mysterious boarding school. County Donegal, 1974. An eclectic group of artists known as the Screamers arrives in Burtonport and moves into the old schoolhouse down the road from where R is n lives with her older sister M ire. Alternately kind and cruel, brilliant artist M ire is a mystery to R is n, as is M ire's relationship with the boy next door, Michael. When the Screamers look to hire an artist in residence, R is n enlists Michael's help to get M ire the job, setting in motion a chain of events that will put an ocean between the sisters and threaten to tear them apart forever. Burtonport, 2018. Lyca Brady lives in a sprawling old house with her mother, Cora, and great aunt, Ro. Abortion has just been legalized in Ireland, and Lyca is struggling to find herself outside her mother's activism. An unexpected message from a childhood friend sends Lyca searching her house's mysterious attic, with its strange collection of old medical equipment, piles of paperwork, and dusty boxes of ancient video games. There, she unearths secrets hidden for decades--secrets perhaps better left unknown. Catherine Airey's haunting debut spins a mesmerizing story of family and fate, survival and revelation, examining the irresistible gravity of the past--how it endures through generations, pervasively present even when buried or forgotten.

It is late September in 2001 and the walls of New York are papered over with photos of the missing. Cora Brady’s father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. Her mother died long ago and now, orphaned on the cusp of adulthood, Cora is adrift and alone. Soon, a letter will arrive with the offer of a new life: far out on the ragged edge of Ireland, in the town where her parents were young, an estranged aunt can provide a home and fulfil a long-forgotten promise. There the story of Cora's family is hidden, and in her presence will begin to unspool…An essential, immersive debut from an astonishing new voice, Confessions traces the arc of three generations of women as they experience in their own time the irresistible gravity of the past: its love and tragedy, its mystery and redemption, and, in all things intended and accidental, the beauty and terrible shade of the things we do.

Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize"Confessions is a remarkable debut. A complex and compulsive read that unravels the intricate twists and revelations among three generations of women with elegance and urgency." --Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper PalaceA "dazzling puzzle box of a novel" (Oprah Daily) following three generations of women as decades of secrets spill out of the attic of one family's mysterious old home in rural Ireland--a propulsive, page-turning story about the power of choice. New York City, late September 2001. The walls of the city are papered over with photos of the missing. Cora Brady's father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. When a letter arrives from an aunt she didn't know existed in Ireland with the offer of a new life, the name jogs a memory: an old videocassette game Cora used to play as a child where two sisters must save the students of a mysterious boarding school. County Donegal, 1974. An eclectic group of artists known as the Screamers arrives in Burtonport and moves into the old schoolhouse down the road from where R is n lives with her older sister M ire. Alternately kind and cruel, brilliant artist M ire is a mystery to R is n, as is M ire's relationship with the boy next door, Michael. When the Screamers look to hire an artist in residence, R is n enlists Michael's help to get M ire the job, setting in motion a chain of events that will put an ocean between the sisters and threaten to tear them apart forever. Burtonport, 2018. Lyca Brady lives in a sprawling old house with her mother, Cora, and great aunt, Ro. Abortion has just been legalized in Ireland, and Lyca is struggling to find herself outside her mother's activism. An unexpected message from a childhood friend sends Lyca searching her house's mysterious attic, with its strange collection of old medical equipment, piles of paperwork, and dusty boxes of ancient video games. There, she unearths secrets hidden for decades--secrets perhaps better left unknown. Catherine Airey's haunting debut spins a mesmerizing story of family and fate, survival and revelation, examining the irresistible gravity of the past--how it endures through generations, pervasively present even when buried or forgotten.