Farrell and Son

Mick Farrell is the only funeral director in Ballyrowan. He is also a very unpopular man - pedantic, tight-fisted and stiff as a corpse. His long-suffering wife Catriona works alongside him, preparing the departed for their final send-off. Their daughter Niamh, a sweet, strange girl, can't wait to grow up and join the family business. She isn't allowed inside the funeral parlour but she sneaks in whenever she can to watch her parents tending to the dead.

But when the Farrells, who have made death their business, are suddenly confronted by grief themselves, the fault-lines running through their eccentric home start to fracture. Catriona's mental health teeters on a knife edge. Mick is drawn back to dangerous old temptations. And Niamh, left to her own devices as her parents unravel, resorts to confiding in a recently deceased old lady, the latest customer to pass through the funeral home, and is astonished to hear the corpse speaking back…

Farrell and Son fizzes with life - as tragedy and comedy, microscopic and epic, a novel of beautifully realised contrasts - set amid the textured vitality of a small rural community and playing out in the not-so-silent presence of death. In Orla Mackey's hands, life is fragile and funny and sometimes heartstoppingly moving

Kathleen MacMahon, author of 'Nothing But Blue Sky'

About Orla Mackey

Orla Mackey is a writer and teacher based in Kilkenny. She studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin. Her first novel, Mouthing, was an Irish Times bestseller. Her second novel, Farrell and Son, will be published in spring 2027.
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Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9781405992268
  • Length: 256 pages
  • Price: £8.99
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