The bleak and beautiful skellig and its native inhabitants of various bird species are compelling, detailed and haunting. For a novel set in such ancient times Donoghue has seamlessly woven in modern day issues surrounding gender fluidity, use of scarce resources and coercive control showing that issues of humanity are usually the same ones that people have wrestled with in their own way for many centuries.ĭonoghue has always had a talent for scene setting but in this novel she surpasses herself. Artt embodies the toxic masculinity that is a hot topic these days. The difficulty men with that kind of ego have with ever climbing down from their position and admitting that they are wrong or that they need help. Perhaps it wasn’t her intention but I read in this narrative not of the dangers of devoting yourself wholeheartedly to a religious faith although they are plain to see but also the danger of man’s ego when coupled with control over other people.

I instantly fell in love with Trian and very quickly thereafter with Cormac. There is a prevailing air of distress in this novel, punctuated with highs of emotion be they happy or traumatic. Is there anything that Emma Donoghue can’t write about? Every era, gender of subject, age, country she hits the mark perfectly every time. Irish Times, Books to Look Out For in 2022.

What is Divine Grace? Purity of soul? Virtue? Not what they think.' - (via Twitter) #EmmaDonoghue (ROOM) combines pressure-cooker intensity + radical isolation, to stunning effect. In 7th C, #Ireland, three men set sail to a bird-thick island to find God. 'This is a patient, thoughtful novel with much to say about spirituality, hope, and human failure, and about the miracle of mercy.' - Esi Edugyan, Booker-shortlisted author of Washington Black In such a place, what will survival mean? Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island, inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. Taking two monks – young Trian and old Cormac – he rows down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Haven, Emma Donoghue’s gripping and moving novel, has her trademark psychological intensity – but this story is like nothing she has ever written before. What they find is the extraordinary island now known as Skellig Michael.

They set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them. Three men vow to leave the world behind them.

‘Beautiful and timely’ - Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater From the bestselling author of The Pull of the Stars and Room

Haven donoghue