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  • Published: 19 July 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529176735
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $22.99

Diving for Pearls





Fates collide and lives are shattered in this stunning debut novel from an exciting new voice in Irish fiction. Jamie O’Connell weaves a delicate web of intertwining stories, combining dark wit and devastating emotional truth. For fans of John Boyne and Jeanine Cummins.

A young woman's body floats in the Dubai marina. Her death alters the fates of six people, each one striving for a better life in an unforgiving city.

A young Irish man comes to stay with his sister, keen to erase his troubled past in the heat of the Dubai sun. A Russian sex worker has outsmarted the system so far - but will her luck run out? A Pakistani taxi driver dreams of a future for his daughters. An Emirate man hides the truth about who he really is. An Ethiopian maid tries to carve out a path of her own.

From every corner of the globe, Dubai has made promises to them all. Promises of gilded opportunities and bright new horizons, the chance to forget the past and protect long-held secrets.

But Dubai breaks its promises, with deadly consequences. In a city of mirages, how do you find your way out?

  • Published: 19 July 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529176735
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

Jamie O'Connell

Jamie O’Connell was Highly Commended for the Costa Short Story Award 2018, short-listed for the Maeve Binchy Award and the Sky Arts Future’s Fund, and long-listed for BBC Radio 4 Opening Lines Short Story Competition. He has received bursaries from The Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, Dublin City Council and Cork City Council. He teaches in University College Dublin and works for Penguin Random House. He was on the committee of Dublin Book Festival (2014-16) and one of the judges of the Irish Bookseller of the Year Award 2018. Jamie lives in Dublin.

Praise for Diving for Pearls

A hugely engaging novel from a talented new writer

John Boyne

A compelling tale uncovering a world of secrets, injustice and, for the lucky few, escape

Anne Griffin, author of When All is Said

Shimmering, beguiling and ruthless. A fizzing and assured debut

Colin Barrett

Sprawling and encompassing so many worlds, it's utterly gripping. Excellent.

Sophie White, author of Corpsing

If you're after a total page turner then try Diving for Pearls . . . A fantastic debut novel

Stellar

Love this . . . a really fantastic read

Sinéad Moriarty

This page-turner is the debut offering from Cork writer O'Connell and the sign of great things to come from him

Irish Examiner

The opening chapter grabbed me right away . . . I'm gripped

The Art House, 96FM

[O'Connell's] talent is clear

The Ryan Tubridy Show

It's tough to link so many narrative threads . . . but O'Connell pulls it off with aplomb

Irish Times

An instantly gripping page-turner

Sunday Independent Life Magazine

From the first pages I knew I was in for a treat and the book delivered, over and over again

Books Ireland

A cast of characters you think you will know, trapped in a world you definitely won't. Illuminating, claustrophobic, addictive

Ciaran McMenamin

Wonderful depictions of life in Dubai and an intriguing, interwoven plot

Zoë Miller, author of The Perfect Sister

A literary thriller set in Dubai... O'Connell's debut does mainly reinforce the notion that expats are terribly entitled people but there's nuance in the few characters desperately seeking a better, more meaningful life.

Guardian

An enjoyable and unconventional thriller... readers will be hearing more from Jamie O'Connell, I've no doubt.

Sunday Times

An instantly gripping page-turner set around a death in Dubai.

Sunday Independent

Stunning... a tour de force.

Pat Kenny, The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk)
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