In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage-clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend’s attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital—where she has been locked away for more than sixty-one years. Iris’s grandmother Kitty always claimed to be an only child. But Esme’s papers prove she is Kitty’s sister, and Iris can see the shadow of her dead father in Esme’s face. Esme has been labeled harmless—sane enough to coexist with the rest of the world. But she's still basically a stranger, a family member never mentioned by the family, and one who is sure to bring life-altering secrets with her when she leaves the ward. If Iris takes her in, what dangerous truths might she inherit? A gothic, intricate tale of family secrets, lost lives, and the freedom brought by truth, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox will haunt you long past its final page.From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. O'Farrell (After You'd Gone) delivers an intricate, eloquent novel of family malice, longings and betrayal. Slim, stylish Iris Lockhart runs a dress shop in contemporary Edinburgh when she's not flirting with her stepbrother Alex or rendezvousing with her married attorney lover, Luke. Esme Lennox, meanwhile, is ready to be discharged from the soon-to-be-closed psychiatric hospital where she's been a patient (read: virtual prisoner) for 61 years. Iris becomes aware of Esme's existence when she's informed, to her disbelief, that she has been granted power of attorney over Esme by Kitty Lockhart, Iris's Alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother. It turns out Kitty and Esme are sisters, but Kitty kept quiet about Esme after she was hospitalized at age 16. Layer upon layer of Lockhart family secrets are laid bare—the truth behind Esme's institutionalization, why her existence was kept a secret, and a twist involving Iris's parents—as Iris mulls over what to do with her new charge, and Esme and Kitty reconnect. O'Farrell maintains a high level of tension throughout, and the conclusion is devastating. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistFlosnik’s light British tones enhance O’Farrell’s fourth novel, which spans generations and continents. The tale takes listeners back in time to India as well as to contemporary Scotland. Thirtysomething Iris Lockhart learns that she has power of attorney for Esme Lennox, an elderly relative who is soon to be released from a mental institution where she has been a resident for more than 60 years. Prior to the notice, Lockhart never knew of the existence of Lennox, who is the sister of Lockhart’s grandmother, now afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Flosnik reads flashbacks, flash-forwards, and shifting narrative viewpoints with ease. Her intonations darken delicately around the edges when Lockhart learns of the shameful treatment Lennox received, and her voice nimbly brightens when recounting Lennox’s happier teenage years. She is also particularly effective in her portrayal of the grandmother, whose Alzheimer’s-impaired memories shimmer like heat lightning and then disappear. --Whitney Scott

"I Am I Am I Am is a gripping and glorious investigation of death that leaves the reader feeling breathless, grateful, and fully alive. Maggie O'Farrell is a miracle in every sense. I will never forget this book."—Ann PatchettAn extraordinary memoir—told entirely in near-death experiences—from one of Britain's best-selling novelists, for fans of Wild, When Breath Becomes Air, and The Year of Magical Thinking.We are never closer to life than when we brush up against the possibility of death.I Am, I Am, I Am is Maggie O'Farrell's astonishing memoir of the near-death experiences that have punctuated and defined her life. The childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, which she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. An encounter with a disturbed man on a remote path. And, most terrifying of all, an ongoing, daily struggle to protect her...

When Lily moves into new boyfriend Marcus's apartment and plunges headlong into their relationship, she must contend with an intangible, hostile presence—Marcus's ex-girlfriend, Sinead. As Lily and Marcus become more deeply involved, Lily becomes obsessed with Sinead's fate and thinks she sees her everywhere. She must question not only her sanity, but whether the man she loves is someone she can, or should, be with at all.

A Sunday Times bestseller, the dazzling new novel from Costa Novel Award-winner Maggie O'Farrell THIS MUST BE THE PLACE crosses time zones and continents to reveal an extraordinary portrait of a marriage. 'A tour de force... her best novel to date, a book that surely confirms her as one of the UK's most assured, accomplished and inventive storytellers' *Observer* 'Her most ambitious novel to date... one of this summer's most anticipated reads' *Sunday Times* **'Inventive, moving and hilarious. I loved it' Rachel Joyce Meet Daniel Sullivan, a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn and a wife, Claudette, who is a reclusive ex-film star given to shooting at anyone who ventures up their driveway. He is also about to find out something about a woman he lost touch with twenty years ago, and this discovery will send him off-course, far away from wife and home. Will his love for Claudette be enough to bring him back? **Review “Maggie O’Farrell is a hugely gifted, sympathetic, and ambitious writer, and THIS MUST BE THE PLACE will send this reader—and, I suspect, many others—racing to her backlist.” —Richard Russo, best-selling author of Everybody’s Fool “Inventing, moving, and hilarious.  I loved it.”  —Rachel Joyce, best-selling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry “The scenario is glamourous, the writing is stylish, the globe-trotting almost dizzying, but there’s a satisfying core of untampered feeling as well…juicy and cool, this could be O’Farrell’s U.S. breakthrough book.”   —Kirkus Reviews, starred Praise from the UK: “Stylistically, narratively, emotionally, This Must Be the Place is a tour de force, a complex and nuanced story leaping effortlessly across multiple characters, continents and time frames….This Must Be The Place is a rare literary beast: both technically dazzling and deeply moving.  It has all the structural and temporal playfulness of a Kate Atkinson novel while retaining the hallmark of emotional intensity for which O’Farrell has become renowned.  It is her best novel to date, a book that surely confirms her as one of the UK’s most assured, accomplished and inventive storytellers.”  —The Guardian “Complex in scale, but carried off with dazzling grace. A rich, engrossing feast of a novel to lose yourself in.” —Sunday Mirror “There is tragedy, but also sharp comedy, and O’Farrell, skillful as ever, plays with the novel form…rewarding and humane.” —Sunday Express “Dazzling, her most accomplished book yet.” —The National Beautifully executed…a graceful, insightful exploration of a relationship in all its wonders and woes.” —Mail on Sunday “Her most ambitious novel to date, crisscrossing the Atlantic and three decades, and told from multiple perspectives, This Must Be the Place is one of the summer’s most anticipated reads.” —Sunday Times “A new Maggie O’Farrell book is always a cause for celebration, but her seventh is so brilliant you’ll want to unfurl flags and put up bunting in her honor….wonderfully written and absolutely addicting.” —Psychologies Magazine About the Author MAGGIE O'FARRELL is the author of six previous novels, After You’d Gone; My Lover’s Lover; The Distance Between Us, which won a Somerset Maugham Award; The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox; The Hand That First Held Mine, which won the Costa Book Award; and Instructions for a Heatwave, which was short-listed for the Costa Book Award. She lives in Edinburgh. 

The stunning new novel from Costa-Novel-Award-winning novelist Maggie O'Farrell: a portrait of an Irish family in crisis in the legendary heatwave of 1976. It's July 1976. In London, it hasn't rained for months, gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back. The search for Robert brings Gretta's children - two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce - back home, each wih different ideas as to where their father might have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share. Maggie O'Farrell's sixth book is the work of an outstanding novelist at the height of her powers.ReviewPraise for Instructions for a Heat Wave: “Acutely observed…revelatory, redemptive, and moving…There is a deliciousness to this novel, a warmth and readability that render it unputdownable and will surely make it a hit. O’Farrell has done it again.”             –Joanna Briscoe, The Guardian“A literary event…evocative, articulate, and joyously readable…O’Farrell’s talent for drawing intriguing but relatable characters is eclipsed only by a rare gift for description that is almost photographic in its imagery…An author at the top of her game.”            –Charlotte Heathcote, The Sunday Express“Humorous, humane, and perceptive…O’Farrell depicts relationships with piercing acuity in haunting, intense prose…a deliciously insightful writer…Her sharp but humane eye dissects every form of human interaction.”             –Leyla Sanai, The Independent on Sunday “Elegant, lyrical, and subtle…O’Farell’s a compassionate writer, showing us every member of the family from a variety of viewpoints, ensuring that we understand and feel for every one of them even as they drive each other mad…The Riordans will stay in your mind long after you finish reading this book. They’re funny, infuriating, and impossible not to love. They feel like family.”             –Anna Carey, The Irish Times“Thoroughly absorbing and beautifully written…A novel about what we say and what other people hear; about families; what we don’t tell each other and what we do; the compromises and accommodations we make and what happens when we build our lives around half-truths.”             –Victoria Moore, Daily Mail “A ripping yarn…A brilliant domestic drama that teeters on the edge of being a thriller; it’ll hook you in at the start and keep you dangling.”            –Katie Law, Evening Standard “O’Farrell is adept at creating pace out of the intricacies of family relations. She keeps the gas up on the Bunsen burner throughout...I felt that I gobbled this book.”             –Vicky Allan, The Herald“Farrell’s language is lissom, airborne, mostly seamless, her characters flawed, contradictory, aggravating and instantly knowable. This is a deceptively easy, effortlessly true-feeling novel; a total delight.”            –Claire Allfree, Metro“O’Farrell is hard to beat. Anyone looking for a British equivalent of Anne Tyler need look no further.”            –David Robinson, The Scotsman“A surprising, beautiful novel, full of the intricacies of family life…You’ll find yourself wanting to devour it in one sitting.”            –Claire Frost, Fabulous Magazine “O’Farrell should be a household name.”             –Library JournalAbout the AuthorMaggie O’Farrell is the author of After You’d Gone, winner of a Betty Trask Award; My Lover’s Lover; The Distance Between Us, winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox; and The Hand That First Held Mine, winner of a Costa Novel Award.

Alice Raikes takes a train from London to Scotland to visit her family, but when she gets there she witnesses something so shocking that she insists on returning to London immediately. A few hours later, Alice is lying in a coma after an accident that may or may not have been a suicide attempt. Alice's family gathers at her bedside and as they wait, argue, and remember, long-buried tensions emerge. The more they talk, the more they seem to conceal. Alice, meanwhile, slides between varying levels of consciousness, recalling her past and a love affair that recently ended. A riveting story that skips through time and interweaves multiple points of view, After You'd Gone is a novel of stunning psychological depth and marks the debut of a major literary talent.From Publishers WeeklyLike a pointillist painting, this fine debut is, from one perspective, formless--short vignettes, told from multiple points of view and in multiple voices, that are somewhat puzzling on their own and apparently have no connection to each other. Ultimately, however, these elements merge into a coherent and moving portrait of a young woman's journey toward a life-threatening crisis. In London, one cold day in late fall, Alice Raikes impulsively boards a train home to Scotland. Shortly after joining her two sisters in the Edinburgh train station, she sees something "odd and unexpected and sickening" in the station's restroom that causes her immediately to flee back to London. Later that evening, while walking to the grocery store, Alice broods over what she has seen, then abruptly steps into oncoming traffic. As she lies comatose in her hospital bed, a swirl of voices and images gradually reveals her past--her parents, especially her mother, Ann; her beloved grandmother, Elspeth; her two sisters, so unlike her, both physically and temperamentally; and John Friedman, whom she loved and lost--and hints at her precarious future. The unnamed spectacle of the opening washroom scene resurfaces in Alice's semiconscious haze, and its eventual elucidation comes as less of a shock than a confirmation of all we have learned about her tumultuous existence. Sharply observed details of everyday life and language, original and telling figures of speech and deftly handled plot twists reach a moving climax, while subtly raising the question of whether the objects of Alice's affection--and the sources of her agony--were worth enduring. Foreign rights sold in seven countries. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalIt is hard to believe that such an assured work comes from a first novelist. Starting in London with a young woman stepping off a curb in front of an oncoming car, O'Farrell gradually lays bare the harrowing realization that prompted the suicide attempt. On one level, this is a love story; on another it is an intergenerational tale of three women (grandmother Elspeth, mother Ann, and Alice, the victim). But to describe it as such sounds platitudinous, which it is definitely not. With smooth prose, O'Farrell moves seamlessly among the victim's family and friends and back and forth in time in seemingly random fashion, slowly revealing her characters' pasts and stunningly bringing the story back to the present. Despite its premise, this is not a depressing book. Published originally in the UK to good reviews, it should appeal to fans of Mary Gordon and Margaret Atwood, though it will draw a more popular audience than the latter.DFrancine Fialkoff, "Library Journal" Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.