Life Sentences
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  • Published: 12 April 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529112962
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $24.99
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Life Sentences

the unforgettable Irish bestseller

Formats & editions
EBook
21 Jan 2021
Audiobook
21 Apr 2022
Paperback
12 Apr 2022
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A sweeping historical epic about one Irish family’s fight for survival – the most ambitious novel yet from the Costa-shortlisted writer, for fans of Colm Toibin and Sebastian Barry

*THE #3 IRISH BESTSELLER*

'Momentous and epic' BERNARD MACLAVERTY
'Superb and moving' JOHN BANVILLE
'A lovely, piercing book' SEBASTIAN BARRY

Three generations. More than a century of famine, war, violence and love.

At sixteen Nancy, the only member of her family to survive the Great Famine, leaves her small island for the mainland. Finding work in a grand house on the edge of Cork City, she feels irrepressibly drawn to the charismatic gardener Michael Egan, sparking a love affair that soon throws her into a fight for her life.

In 1920, Nancy's son Jer has lived through battles of his own as a soldier in the Great War. Now drunk in a jail cell, he struggles to piece together where he has come from, and who he wants to be.

And in the early 1980s, Jer's youngest child Nellie is nearing the end of her life in a council house, moments away from her childhood home; remembering the night when she and her family stole back something that was rightfully theirs, she imagines what lies in store for those who will survive her.

'Brilliantly immerses us in its respective time periods' SUNDAY TIMES
  • Published: 12 April 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529112962
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:
Share…

About the author

Billy O'Callaghan

Billy O’Callaghan is the author of the critically acclaimed novel My Coney Island Baby, which has been translated into eight languages and was shortlisted for the Encore Award 2020. The title story in his short-story collection The Boatman and Other Stories was shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award. He lives in Douglas, a village on the edge of Cork City.

portrait photo of Billy O'Callaghan

Also by Billy O'Callaghan

The Paper Man
The Boatman and Other Stories
My Coney Island Baby
See all

Praise for Life Sentences

Billy O'Callaghan's writing is so good and true it feels almost magical; Life Sentences is a beautiful book, a small epic, a joy.

Sadie Jones

O'Callaghan is amongst the finest storytellers and wordsmiths in Ireland today.

Anne Griffin

Momentous and epic storytelling.

Bernard MacLaverty

A superb and moving novel . . . O'Callaghan is one of our finest writers, in the tradition of John McGahern and Brian Friel, and this is his best work yet.

John Banville, Sunday Independent *Books of the Year*

The novel I most look forward to is Billy O'Callaghan's Life Sentences.

Maggie Fergusson, Tablet *Highlights of 2021*

The accomplished writer . . . O'Callaghan has proved an empathic and expert diviner of the extraordinary in ordinary lives.

Marjorie Brennan, Irish Examiner

The strength of Life Sentences lies in its long range but intimate style . . . A reader could profitably finish the book and go straight back to its beginning

John Self, Spectator

A beautiful novel.

Eithne Shortall, Sunday Times Culture

An absolutely stunning book . . . A truly beautiful read.

Sinéad Moriarty

People who read Sebastian Barry, Donal Ryan, Liam O'Flaherty will really love [Life Sentences] . . . It's my book of the year so far.

Ryan Tubridy, RTÉ Radio One

Lyrical, poignant, gripping . . . O'Callaghan weaves together a narrative that is compelling and dazzlingly rendered.

James Moran, Tablet, *Novel of the Week*

One of the most beautiful books of the year.

Sam Blake, #1 Irish Times bestselling author of the Cat Connolly trilogy

A gifted storyteller.

Donal O'Donoghue, RTÉ Guide

O'Callaghan's prose is mesmerising in its beauty . . . Profound, moving, sometimes shocking, [Life Sentences is] from the pen of a writer at the top of his game.

Anne Cunningham, Meath Chronicle

Life Sentences brilliantly immerses us in its respective time periods, and . . . O'Callaghan's natural gifts as a writer . . . the author often coming out with a stunning turn of phrase.

Barry Pierce, Sunday Times

A terrific family saga.

Village Bookshelf

A lovely, piercing book.

Sebastian Barry

The reader is invested from the start . . . So poetically elegant as to be breathtaking . . . Life Sentences is writing at its finest.

Claire Fullerton, New York Journal of Books

A lyrical prose reminiscent of William Trevor, and a haunting family drama.

Times Literary Supplement

One of the most exciting literary talents to emerge in the last decade.

Irish Examiner