We Were Young
- Author Niamh Campbell
- Narrator Patrick Moy
- Publisher Orion
- Run Time 8 hours and 17 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Fiction: general and literary, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: Love and relationships.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
- £3.99
Listen to a sample
What to expect
'Witty, fiery, wistful and even shocking, with engrossing heady prose, Campbell's style is unique' Irish Independent
'An immensely enjoyable novel, and a great validation of Campbell's uncanny emotional insight' Megan Nolan, Sunday Independent
Cormac is a photographer. Approaching forty and still single, he suddenly finds himself 'the leftover man'.
Through talent and charm, he has escaped small town life and a haunted family. But now his peers are all getting divorced, dying, or buying trampolines in the suburbs. Cormac is dating former students, staying out all night and receiving boilerplate rejection emails for his work, propped up by a constellation of the women and ex-lovers in his life.
In the last weeks of the year, Cormac meets Caroline, an ambitious young dancer, and embarks on a miniature odyssey of intimacy. Simultaneously, he must take responsibility for his married brother, whose mid-life crisis forces them both to reckon with a death in the family that hangs over those left behind.
Set in Dublin, a city built on burial pits, We Were Young is a dazzlingly clever, deeply enjoyable novel from a Sunday Times Short Story Award-Winning author.
'In 30 years from now will some literary critic be asking what is meant by "Campbellesque"? That would not surprise me in the slightest' Irish Times
Critics Review
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Campbell writes beautiful sentences with breath-taking imagery
Irish Times -
She appears to digest the world in layers, receiving not only what is there, but what once was, and whatever memory or thought it sparks anew
Irish Times -
Though its short, and deceptively simple, we are treated to a portrait of an entire life . . . Beguiling . . . with astounding intimacy . . . Effortless . . . There is joy and playfulness here, and the novel is also laugh-out-loud funny in places . . . We become intimate with Cormac’s circle because they feel so real . . . A breathtakingly accomplished novel that really gets at the soul of a person
Irish Independent -
There is so much to love in this deeply intelligent, insightful book . . . One of the best achievements here is conveying that maddening sense one gets at times on the border of intimacy, unable to break through . . . We Were Young is an immensely enjoyable novel, and a great validation of Campbell’s uncanny emotional insight
Sunday Independent -
Beguiling and funny . . . such a pleasurable story
Financial Times -
What sets We Were Young apart, aside from the calibre of her writing is the point of view. Where most accounts of lopsided relationships with arty age gaps are told, as they are written, by women, this time Campbell has boldly handed the microphone to a man
Daily Telegraph ****
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