Description

A story of survival set in 600 AD Ireland; a parable of patriarchy, destruction and religion at sea, by Emma Donoghue, the bestselling author of Room.

‘Everything a novel should be: compassionate, unpredictable, and questioning. Haven is Donoghue at her strange, unsettling best.’ – Maggie O’Farrell, author of Hamnet

Shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award

In seventh-century Ireland, a priest has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks with him, he travels down the Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a new place of worship. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. But in such a place, far from all other humanity, what will survival mean?

‘Haven is a beautiful, bold blaze of a book’ – Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

‘Beautiful and timely’ – Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater

‘Sinister, heart-wrenching and beautifully written’ – The Times

‘Combines pressure-cooker intensity and radical isolation, to stunning effect’ – Margaret Atwood via Twitter

‘Book of the Year’ pick in The Irish Times, The Guardian, The Irish Post, RTE and The Times.

Publisher Review

Haven is a beautiful and timely novel about isolation, passion and the conflict between obedience and self-preservation. The island setting and the characters stayed with me long after I finished reading -- Sarah Moss, author of Ghostwall and Summerwater Told with the clarity of a fable, Haven transports us into territories unknown, where 'fog makes an island of every man.' Donoghue's men of the cloth confront challenges that rattle not only their faith in God, but their faith in each other and in the natural world. This is a patient, thoughtful novel with much to say about spirituality, hope, and human failure, and about the miracle of mercy. -- Esi Edugyan, Booker-shortlisted author of Washington Black In 7th C, Ireland, three men set sail to a bird-thick island to find God. EmmaDonoghue combines pressure-cooker intensity + radical isolation, to stunning effect. What is Divine Grace? Purity of soul? Virtue? Not what they think. -- Margaret Atwood via Twitter