Holding Her Breath

SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN MCGAHERN PRIZE 2022 
 
This critically acclaimed debut will be a guaranteed hit with literary fiction lovers this Christmas. 
 
_____________ 
 
A young woman comes of age in the shadow of her family's tragic past 
 
When Beth Crowe starts university, she is shadowed by the ghost of her potential as a competitive swimmer. Free to create a fresh identity for herself, she finds herself among people who adore the poetry of her grandfather, Benjamin Crowe, who died tragically before she was born. She embarks on a secret relationship - and on a quest to discover the truth about Benjamin and his widow, her beloved grandmother Lydia. The quest brings her into an archive that no scholar has ever seen, and to a person who knows things about her family that nobody else knows. 
 
Holding Her Breath is a razor-sharp, moving and seriously entertaining novel about complicated love stories, ambition and grief - and a young woman coming fully into her powers. 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2021 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE KATE O'BRIEN AWARD 2022 
__________ 
 
'A stunning debut from this new Irish talent' STELLAR 
 
'A beautiful coming-of-age story told with impressive skill and lightness of touch . . . I absolutely loved it' LOUISE O'NEILL 
 
'Whip smart observations and addictive prose' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 
 
'Precise, sure, engaging, and a joy to read' RODDY DOYLE 
 
'A moving debut with a satisfying conclusion' IRISH INDEPENDENT 
 
'Brilliant, vivid - I enjoyed this book ENORMOUSLY' MARIAN KEYES 
 
'Enthralling' IMAGE 
 
'A nimble account of student life with a darkly enjoyable undercurrent of secrecy and emotional turmoil' SARA BAUME 
 
'A truly compelling read, and one I wholeheartedly recommend' BUZZ 
 
'Through the dark sky of our times, Eimear Ryan arrives like a comet, a bright talent scorching through every page' DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA, author of A Ghost in the Throat 
 
'Brilliantly realised, gripping, and moving . . . This is absolutely the real thing' KEVIN POWER 
 
'Written with a wonderful clarity and insight, Holding Her Breath lingers in the imagination. Beth's unravelling and re-ravelling is drawn with great skill and empathy. A brilliant debut' DONAL RYAN

A stunning debut from this new Irish talent, as well as being an exciting page turner it's also a perfect depiction of how it feels to be lost as you embark on a new chapter of your life

From the first sentence to the last, this is a great piece of writing - precise, sure, engaging, and a joy to read

Richly accomplished . . . a true pleasure to read

A moving debut with a satisfying conclusion

Through the dark sky of our times, Eimear Ryan arrives like a comet, a bright talent scorching through every page. To read this book is to feel it blaze to life. I can't stop thinking about it

Doireann Ní Ghríofa, author of A Ghost in the Throat

A beautiful coming-of-age story told with impressive skill and lightness of touch. It marks the arrival of an exciting new voice on the Irish literary scene, one whom I can't wait to hear more from. I absolutely loved it

Whip-smart observations and addictive prose

Effortlessly weaving together a gripping, multi-layered plot, while maintaining a profoundly tender touch, Ryan has marked herself as a captivatingly original voice in Irish literature

A delicious read . . . A nimble account of student life with a darkly enjoyable undercurrent of secrecy and emotional turmoil

A joy to read ­- disarming, entertaining and life-affirming. A blisteringly good portrayal of complex lives and loves. It's an enthralling debut from a hugely talented writer

Brilliant, vivid - I enjoyed this book ENORMOUSLY

Eimear Ryan is a superbly talented writer and Holding Her Breath is a brilliantly realised, gripping, and moving first novel, full of startling perceptions and richly believable characters. This is absolutely the real thing

A confident, textured, fluent novel about first love - and the campus novel sections are a pure joy

Written with a wonderful clarity and insight, Holding Her Breath lingers in the imagination. Beth's unravelling and re-ravelling is drawn with great skill and empathy. A brilliant debut

So finely polished it gleams, and yet it's also almost effortless reading . . . new, bright, exciting, glittering. I absolutely loved it

Stylishly written, with strong female voices

Very assured . . . a refreshing, accomplished debut

It's a truly compelling read, and one I wholeheartedly recommend

I very much enjoyed reading this one and if you love intimate coming of age tales as much as I do, you have to pick this up

An engaging narrative . . . written with perfect poise

When Beth Crowe starts university, she is shadowed by the ghost of her potential as a competitive swimmer. Free to create a fresh identity for herself, she finds herself among people who adore the poetry of her grandfather, Benjamin Crowe, who died tragically before she was born. She embarks on a secret relationship - and on a quest to discover the truth about Benjamin and his widow, her beloved grandmother Lydia. The quest brings her into an archive that no scholar has ever seen, and to a person who knows things about her family that nobody else knows. 
 
Holding Her Breath is a razor-sharp, moving and seriously entertaining novel about complicated love stories, ambition and grief - and a young woman coming fully into her powers.

Eimear Ryan

'A book which will very soon be acknowledged as a classic of Irish sportswriting',

'Eimear Ryan's book is an exploration of questions that affect every girl - and boy - who sets out to participate in sport.'

'Brilliant' ... 'Ryan's bold and deep search into so many of those internalised questions provides a fascinating collage of emotional detail.'

'The Grass Ceiling by Eimear Ryan is a gorgeous memoir about a life lived in sport, specifically a female, Irish, rural life. The writing is by turns lyrical, urgent, wise and bracing - I read it in two sittings.'

A love letter to the GAA and a diatribe against the idea sport is not for women.

'A must-read for sports fans of all genders.'

'Possessing the deft touch of a novelist and having played inter-county camogie for Tipperary means Eimear Ryan has the ideal credentials to examine issues of gender and identity in sport in modern Ireland.'

'A remarkably candid account of the pleasures and pains of team sports. It will have a special resonance for GAA aficionados and will chime with anyone who has pulled on a jersey, no matter how lowly the level.' ...

'Essential reading during #FIFAWW. A book about life, love, passion, family and being a woman in sport. Part David Foster Wallace, part Olivia Laing, part Ian Maleney. A wonderful book for women and girls, but absolutely necessary for men and boys. Especially now. #COYGIG.'

... it would be wrong to define this simply as a book about a woman's experience in sport. The themes are universal for anyone who has ever kicked a point, pucked a ball or stepped into the sporting arena. It burns with a passion that we rarely see women given the opportunity to write about.

I'm glad there's now a book that women and girls can read that not only feeds their passion but tells them that their story can be about injuries and county finals and spending hours practising the game that you love and not just people telling you that you don't belong there.

'The power of Eimear Ryan's memoir of a camogie player is not really in the many differences that still exist between men and women's sport. Or even the gradual narrowing of those differences. It's great on some of the sportsperson's universal conditions. Maybe it's good to hear them thrashed out from a woman's perspective. Or maybe by anyone capable of expressing these complicated feelings.'

On Being a Woman in Sport

What is it like to be female in a male-dominated sporting world? If you play with the boys, more people pay attention - but you get treated like an alien. Playing with other girls or women means you have to accept smaller audiences, diminished status and - for professionals - lower pay. 
 
And what if, as is the case for camogie player Eimear Ryan, your sport has a completely different name when women play it? What if you don't feel entirely comfortable in an all-female sporting environment because you're shy, bookish, not really one of the girls? 
 
In The Grass Ceiling, acclaimed novelist Eimear Ryan digs deep into the confluence of gender and sport, and all the questions it throws up about identity, status, competition and self-expression. At a time when women's sport is on the rise but still a long way from equality, it is a sharp, nuanced and heartfelt exploration of questions that affect everyone who loves sport.

Eimear Ryan

Praise for The Grass Ceiling

'A book which will very soon be acknowledged as a classic of Irish sportswriting',

'Eimear Ryan's book is an exploration of questions that affect every girl - and boy - who sets out to participate in sport.'

'Brilliant' ... 'Ryan's bold and deep search into so many of those internalised questions provides a fascinating collage of emotional detail.'

'A book which will very soon be acknowledged as a classic of Irish sportswriting',

'Eimear Ryan's book is an exploration of questions that affect every girl - and boy - who sets out to participate in sport.'

'Brilliant' ... 'Ryan's bold and deep search into so many of those internalised questions provides a fascinating collage of emotional detail.'

'A book which will very soon be acknowledged as a classic of Irish sportswriting',

'Eimear Ryan's book is an exploration of questions that affect every girl - and boy - who sets out to participate in sport.'

'Brilliant' ... 'Ryan's bold and deep search into so many of those internalised questions provides a fascinating collage of emotional detail.'

Books by Eimear Ryan

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter