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The Penguin Podcast: series 2 episode 3 – Debut books

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Reading lists

Debut novels of 2025: discover the year’s breakthrough new voices

Catherine Airey

A saga: its serious pleasures are its expansiveness and range, and Airey’s rare, particular instinct... a cool, bold image of female pain and liberation

An intricately woven epic, Confessions is both intimate and expansive, a novel that teems with raw, hungry life

I was mesmerized from the very first pages of Catherine Airey's startling debut, Confessions. The story of Maire and Roisin, two Irish sisters living an ocean apart, proceeds with an almost hypnotic power and grace - it has the certainty of fable and the true originality of a powerful new voice in fiction.

Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author of THE LAST ROMANTICS

Propulsive and utterly captivating … Airey has shades of the American novelists Donna Tartt and Jeffrey Eugenides in her style

The beautifully written narrative goes on to reveal the secrets of three generations of women. It’s an epic family saga involving a host of mysteries and I galloped to the end. I loved it.

The narrative zips along with the crackling intelligence of Donna Tartt, full of twists and zips, and genuine surprises... Confessions is an astonishing and remarkable novel, and truly deserving of all the accolades coming its way

Sunday Times, Books to look forward to in 2025

Confessions certainly hails the arrival of a new literary talent. She has a beautiful turn of phrase, enormous compassion for her characters and is not afraid to dig into themes both big and small – of legacy and belonging, mental illness, bodily autonomy and the long, messy tail of grief in all its forms… Confessions really excels.

Three generations’ worth of secrets unravel in this magnificent debut

This ambitious novel, the subject of a fierce bidding war, is sure to show up on award shortlists

Worth the hype. Confessions is a bold, beautiful book, and already builds anticipation for Airey’s next move

[An] impressive debut...Airey has taken flight with a well-written, engaging first novel.

CONFESSIONS is a beating heart of a novel, intricate both in its weaving and its unspooling. An irresistible read

Yael van der Wouden, author of THE SAFEKEEP

Catherine Airey’s CONFESSIONS is a wonderfully moreish feast of family drama, flowing prose, and psychologically compelling characters. I devoured this remarkable debut that charts the lives of three generations of women and their intense, interior lives. Gracefully plotted with sentences that glide along, it’s a book that rollercoasters with secrets and revelations, exploring love and desire; longing and belonging. Airey’s novel has the complex yet deeply human undertones and poetry of Anne Enright combined with the effortless flow and vim of Louise Kennedy. I absolutely adored this novel and will be reading all future books by this immensely talented author.

[A] bold and intricate debut. . . Airey crafts a sharp psychological sketch of each woman as they contend with their parallel crises, adding nuance and depth without shying away from making a strong statement for reproductive rights. Readers will be eager to see what Airey does next

One of 2025’s most exciting literary debuts

It’s hard to believe this is a debut…Stunning writing, strong characters… An astounding read

A complex, assured novel that explores how the past inescapably shapes the present

An extraordinary debut novel by Airey, who's bound to be a household name very soon

An ambitious and beautifully crafted novel … Airey deftly weaves between voices and settings, spooling a family saga of secrets, loss and trauma

A beautifully written novel... we loved it

Across three generations of women, Airey deftly explores the pull of the past, love, loss, and the complexities of the choices that shape our lives

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 PALACE

Brilliantly conceived and magnificently executed, I truly could not put it down. I haven’t come across as honest, truthful, compelling, and gripping a writer for decades. The work of a debut novelist that feels like the work of a seasoned and highly accomplished author.

Anna Fitzgerald, author of GIRL IN THE MAKING

Confessions is a tender and bitingly original work that effortlessly weaves the parochial weight of Irish family history with the mendacious allure of Manhattan's seedy streets... a chronicler of the pain and peril of self-determination.

Darragh McKeon, award-winning author of REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

Confessions is a remarkable debut. With fearless ambition and phenomenal poise, Catherine Airey weaves an intricate and far-reaching tale that is both compelling and heart-breaking

Ben Hinshaw, author of EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN

Exciting, expansive and transporting storytelling. It's hard to believe CONFESSIONS is a debut novel

Driven by the whims and passions and tragedies of its central characters and split in its narration from each of them... striking

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.

Catherine Airey

Praise for Confessions

A saga: its serious pleasures are its expansiveness and range, and Airey’s rare, particular instinct... a cool, bold image of female pain and liberation

An intricately woven epic, Confessions is both intimate and expansive, a novel that teems with raw, hungry life

I was mesmerized from the very first pages of Catherine Airey's startling debut, Confessions. The story of Maire and Roisin, two Irish sisters living an ocean apart, proceeds with an almost hypnotic power and ...

A saga: its serious pleasures are its expansiveness and range, and Airey’s rare, particular instinct... a cool, bold image of female pain and liberation

An intricately woven epic, Confessions is both intimate and expansive, a novel that teems with raw, hungry life

I was mesmerized from the very first pages of Catherine Airey's startling debut, Confessions. The story of Maire and Roisin, two Irish sisters living an ocean apart, proceeds with an almost hypnotic power and ...

A saga: its serious pleasures are its expansiveness and range, and Airey’s rare, particular instinct... a cool, bold image of female pain and liberation

An intricately woven epic, Confessions is both intimate and expansive, a novel that teems with raw, hungry life

I was mesmerized from the very first pages of Catherine Airey's startling debut, Confessions. The story of Maire and Roisin, two Irish sisters living an ocean apart, proceeds with an almost hypnotic power and ...

Articles featuring Catherine Airey

The Penguin Podcast: series 2 episode 3 – Debut books

Debut novels of 2025: discover the year’s breakthrough new voices

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