“The last great book I read . . . an early proof of debut novelist Alan Murrin’s The Coast Road , about women in ’90s Ireland negotiating the complexities of marriage in a country where divorce is illegal. It will no doubt be a bestseller.”—actor Gillian Anderson A poignant and heartbreaking debut novel set in the 1990s in a claustrophobic coast town. With divorce not yet legal in Ireland, how will two women trapped in very different marriages find their way? Set in 1994 , The Coast Road tells the story of two women—Izzy Keaveney, a housewife, and Colette Crowley, a poet. Colette has left her husband and sons for a married man in Dublin. When she returns to her home in County Donegal to try to pick up the pieces of her old life, her husband, Shaun, a successful businessman, denies her access to her children. The only way she can see them is with the help of neighbor Izzy, acting as a go-between. Izzy also feels caught in a troubled marriage. Their friendship that develops between them will ultimately lead to tragedy for one, and freedom for the other. Addictive as Big Little Lies [ with a depth and compassion that rivals the works of Claire Keegan, Elizabeth Strout, and Colm Tóibín, The Coast Road is a story about the limits placed on women’s lives in Ireland only a generation ago, and the consequences women have suffered trying to gain independence. Award-winning Irish author Alan Murrin reminds us of the price we are forced to pay to find freedom.
