From the iconic author of The Country Girls trilogy, a modern Irish coming-of-age classic.





'My favourite in the whole wonderful O'Brien canon. Told in the second-person voice - a bold syntactic choice - of a young girl, it is at once a coming-of-age story and an account of a vanished way of life in rural Ireland. The Church doesn't escape O'Brien's gimlet gaze.' Maggie O'Farrell





After leaving for a religious community in Belgium, the young woman in A Pagan Place becomes lost in memories of her childhood in rural Ireland, reflecting on the rituals of village life, the people she encountered, the enchanting beauty of the landscape, the concept of home - and the shocking event that led to her departure ...



This ebook features the first chapter of Edna O'Brien's stunning novel, Girl.



Edna O'Brien wrote more than twenty celebrated works of fiction, including her classic The Country Girls trilogy, as well as plays and four works of non-fiction, translated into over thirty languages. She was the recipient of many honours, including being appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017. In 2021, O'Brien was also named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Born and raised in the west of Ireland, she lived in London for many years before her death in July 2024.