The Irish Goodbye

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What to expect

'A sparkling debut' - Jenny Jackson, author of Pineapple Street

Three adult sisters reunited at their childhood home must confront a shared tragedy in The Irish Goodbye – the devastatingly beautiful debut novel from Heather Aimee O'Neill.

It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all home together at their family’s beloved house on Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a tragic accident on their brother Topher’s boat that drove him to suicide. Now, the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, but each carries a heavy secret.

The eldest, Cait, is still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, when she rekindles a flame with her high school crush, Topher’s best friend. Middle sister, Alice, has been thrown a curveball threatening her career and, potentially, her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk to bring the woman she loves home to her devoutly Catholic mother.

When Cait invites a guest to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves – and each other.

Critics Review

An extraordinary book about the power of family and sisterhood . . . shows how the ripples of loss and grief can shape even our closest relationships
Jenna Bush Hager, The Today Show's #ReadwithJenna
The Irish Goodbye has it all: a lovable cast of complex characters; forbidden affairs; a stately, crumbling beach house; a doomed sailboat; long-suppressed family secrets; and one pressure-cooker of a holiday weekend. Above all, this finely-crafted novel explores what it means to be a family, and what we owe each other and ourselves
Amy Shearn, author of The Mermaid of Brooklyn
A sparkling debut, The Irish Goodbye is a rich, compassionate novel about sisterhood, marriage, grief, and forgiveness
Jenny Jackson, author of Pineapple Street
The family saga we all need – utterly un-put downable, beautifully drawn, thrilling and heartfelt at once and totally not to be missed. Heather Aimee O'Neill has arrived with gorgeous skills and a keen eye for what drives families apart, and brings them together, too
Jessica Soffer, New York Times bestselling author of This Is a Love Story
Lovingly rendered and acutely felt, The Irish Goodbye takes the reader into the aching, complicated nooks and crannies of a single family trying to find their way back to one another, even as none is sure they have hold of themselves. A beautiful and moving debut
Lynn Steger Strong, author of The Float Test
Emotionally gripping and achingly poignant, The Irish Goodbye is about the secrets we keep from our families and from ourselves. In the Ryans, Heather Aimee O’Neill has created a family that, despite its glimmering specificity, could very well be our own. Mesmerizing
Daisy Alpert Florin, author My Last Innocent Year
I picked up The Irish Goodbye one morning and finished it later that night, unable to do anything else until I got to the end. These characters captured my heart, and I got lost in this family weekend full of secrets, resentment, and emotional landmines. Heather Aimee O’Neill has written a beautiful debut about family, grief, love, and loss
Jennifer Close, bestselling author of Marrying the Ketchups
Fans of writers from Maeve Binchy to Alice McDermott to J. Courtney Sullivan will relish this big-hearted novel
Kirkus
O’Neill, a poet and writing coach, brings her skills to her compelling debut . . . this melancholy yet loving novel is perfect for fans of Jennifer E. Smith’s Fun for the Whole Family
Booklist
Readers of The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill will be hooked from the first page of this multifaceted, charming story that manages to remain a light-hearted joy to read despite some of its heavy content
The Clarion Ledger

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