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The Home Scar

The Home Scar

From the Women’s Prize-longlisted author of Nothing But Blue Sky

Summary

"MacMahon writes with such beautiful simplicity, conjuring real and complex people straight off the page ... subtle and authentic" - Claire Fuller

On opposite sides of the world, half-siblings Cassie and Christo have built their lives around work, intent on ignoring their painful past.

When a dramatic storm in Galway hits the headlines, they're drawn back there to revisit a glorious childhood summer, the last before their mother died. But their journey uncovers memories of a far less happy summer - one that had tragic consequences.

Confronted with the havoc their mother left in her wake, Cassie and Christo are forced to face their past and - ready or not - to deal with the messy tangle of parental love and neglect that shaped them.

The Home Scar is a luminous and precise story about the inheritance of loss and the possibility of finally making peace with it.
_________

"Her beautifully simple style belies psychological complexity ... and her tone is wryly accepting" - Big Issue

"Quiet and bleakly beautiful ... like the siblings and Ireland, it will leave a permanent mark on those who venture into its depths" - Buzz

"Picks at the wounds only a mother can inflict ... ambitious ... intricate" - Sunday Independent

"An exceptional novel about a brother and sister returning to the west of Ireland and to a summer of their past." - Anne Griffin, Sunday Independent

"A powerful story about legacy and loss and the possibility of reconciliation" - Irish Times

Reviews

  • A powerful story about legacy and loss and the possibility of reconciliation
    Irish Times

About the author

Kathleen MacMahon

The Home Scar is Kathleen MacMahon's fourth novel. Her debut, This is How it Ends, spent five weeks at the top of the bestseller lists in Ireland, and was a Richard and Judy Book Club choice in the UK. It was followed by The Long, Hot Summer, also a bestseller in Ireland, and Nothing But Blue Sky, which was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2021. Kathleen is a former radio and television journalist with Ireland's national broadcaster, RTÉ, and she lives in Dublin with her family.
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