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FROM THE WINNER OF THE AUTHORS’ CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD

‘This [book] confirms her as one of the most arresting voices of her generation. Delaney never succumbs to cliche, but creates a vividly realised narrative in which you long for her characters to break free and triumph’ OBSERVER

‘Superb’ FINANCIAL TIMES

‘You’ll be moved, you might laugh and there may well be redemption’ EVENING STANDARD

‘Delaney has an effortless skill to unlock the fabric and nuances of working-class family life. Thoroughly absorbing, it didn’t let me down’ ALEX WHEATLE

Perfect for fans of Meg Mason’s SORROW AND BLISS, Claire Fuller’s UNSETTLED GROUND and A LITTLE LIFE

I had dreams once, but never for anything as extravagant as happiness. Still, Auntie Bell and me have fresh cream cakes every Saturday. They’re sweet enough to take the edge off. I hope they’re enough to get me through being outed as a fraud. Turns out, I’m more my missing mother’s daughter than anyone first suspected.

There was a time when Lindy Morris escaped to London and walked along the Thames in the moonlight. When life was full and exciting.

Decades later, Lindy lives back with her Auntie Bell on the edge: on the edge of Donegal and on the edge of Granda Morris’s land. Granda Morris is a complicated man, a farmer who wanted sons but got two daughters: Auntie Bell and Lindy’s mother, who disappeared long ago.

Now, Lindy and Bell live the smallest of lives, in a cottage filled with unfulfilled dreams. But when the secrets they have kept for thirty years emerge, everything is rewritten. Will Lindy grasp who she is again?

Praise for Tish Delaney

‘Funny and moving’ Roddy Doyle

‘I was besotted’ Red

‘Gorgeous prose . . . My heart broke several times’ Good Housekeeping

Publisher Review

Two pages into this book you know you've unlocked something special . . . the book is brightened up plenty by sunshine characters and the magnificence of Tyrone nature . . . Tish knows what she's talking about. * Irish Examiner on Before My Actual Heart Breaks * Delaney's writing is a beautiful wave flowing lyrically through the life of Mary Rattigan. A touching tale of how one woman survives a tough beginning to eventually end up exactly where her heart belongs. -- Anne Griffin author of When All Is Said on Before My Actual Heart Breaks Gorgeous prose . . . my heart broke several times. * Good Housekeeping on Before My Actual Heart Breaks *