Soldier Sailor

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024



The Times Novel of the Year

And a Guardian, FT, Economist, Irish Times, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, Irish Independent and Independent Book of the Year





'One of the finest novels published this year.' Sunday Times



'I could not put it down.' ANNE ENRIGHT

'It's very moving, also very funny.' PAUL MURRAY

'My favourite book I've read this year.' PANDORA SYKES

'I lived and breathed beside her narrator.' DAISY JOHNSON





In her wildly acclaimed new novel Claire Kilroy creates an unforgettable heroine, whose fierce love for her young son clashes with the seismic change to her own identity.





As her marriage strains and she struggles with questions of love, autonomy, creativity and the passing of time, an old friend makes a welcome return - but can he really offer a lifeline to the woman she used to be?



Readers adore Soldier Sailor:



***** 'About as perfect a piece of writing as you'll find.'

***** 'Unbearably tense and frequently hilarious.'



***** 'An entirely different voltage to anything I've read ... she somehow manages to verbalise *exactly* the feelings and thoughts I, certainly, had at points when I was a young mother'



***** 'This story touched me on such a visceral level.'



***** 'I was held captive by this novel ... an utterly absorbing depiction of motherhood'



***** 'I loved this book. Any woman, with or without children, will see themselves mirrored in this narrative'



***** 'An excellent, interesting and rather unforgettable creation.'



CLAIRE KILROY is the author of four previous novels, including Tenderwire and The Devil I Know. She was awarded the Rooney Prize in 2004 and has been shortlisted for many other prizes, including the Irish Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Prize for fiction.



An urgent, memorable, gut-wrenching novel about motherhood, creativity and identity which is sure to get people talking.