Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
What a phenomenal book. The author did an amazing job in capturing the reader and putting emotions of the characters right on paper. Hard to believe this is a debut novel. Well researched and holds your interest throughout. Great job.

Set in County Donegal in the mid 1990’s in a remote coastal town, in a time when divorce was illegal, this is a story of three women, Izzy, Delores and Colette who no longer wish to be married to their husbands. Colette’s husband then refuses to allow her to see her children, and turns their children against her.

These three women who are trapped in these marriages struggles are deeply felt, their frustrations and disappointments are heartbreaking. The men, on the other hand, don’t seem to have any sympathy for them.

This is one of those sad, quiet stories where nothing much happens - until it does, and then everything changes. The friendship between these women, Colette, Izzy and Delores, becomes stronger as time passes and as they are shunned by others.

This is a beautifully written story which explores the dynamics of power between men and women in a time and place where and when women had little if any power.

A deeply felt, powerful debut.


Published: 04 June 2024


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Harper Via

Although this is not a thriller, it had me turning the pages like one, even though there wasn’t really a central mystery. The plot moved along quickly and there was rich character development packed into this slim novel. Colette and Izzy are complicated, relatable women who are both in and out of their marriage due to the legal restrictions of divorce in Ireland. It painted a pretty genuine and nuanced picture of what it’s like to be a middle aged woman, raising children and tending to a home in a really interesting way. I don’t think that’s easily done in literature. I really enjoyed the tension that built between different characters and I enjoyed watching characters be both kind and cruel to each other. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you so much for this arc. I really appreciated it. It’s hard to believe that this was a debut novel but I genuinely enjoyed it and I cannot wait to see what the author gets up to next.

The Coast Road by Alan Murrin was kind of a dark read, although some came right in the end. These people were all unhappy. It was the days before divorce was legal in Ireland, although it is doubtful that many of them would have used that privilege even if they had it. It was so about power. Who had it and who didn’t. It was a tough read, although well written because everyone was so miserable and there was little that could be done. Women whose lives become entangled with those of each other was the focus of the book and that is a universal truth. The characters, individually were good, but as a group seemed to make things worse for on another. Entangled yes, loyal, not necessarily. I guess this is realism. I wasn’t taken.

I was invited to read The Coast Road by HarperVia. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #HarperVia #AlanMurrin #TheCoastRoad

An amazing debut!
Three women trapped in their marriages in 1994 County Donegal where divorce is not yet legal.
This author captures the desires and limitations, and disappointments put on these women during this time of unrest in their lives …much in part to the gossipers of the town!
This ended up being a page turner!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for the ARC!

In 1994, divorce was illegal in Ireland. Alan Murrin’s "The Coast Road" is set in a small town where the law, gossip, and societal pressures trap women in unhappy marriages.  

Colette Crowley, a poet who fled to Dublin to be with a married man, returns to town, disrupting the delicate equilibrium of several relationships. When her husband cuts her off financially and denies her access to her children, she starts teaching a poetry course. This class becomes a lifeline for reluctant housewife Izzy Keaveney, offering her a temporary escape from her unfulfilling marriage. As the bond between the two women deepens, Izzy is driven to help Colette reunite with her children through secret meetings. Regrettably, this friendship will end in tragedy for one of them.

Murrin writes with beauty and honesty, creating authentic and complex characters. He draws women with whom you can empathize as you mourn their lack of agency against their bullying husbands. The characters pull you through the story as they struggle under the weight of their religious and patriarchal society.

 Lyrical, emotional, and page-turning, "The Coast Road" by Alan Murrin is for readers who love messy relationships, small-town scandals, impactful characters, and touches of humor in an otherwise dark story.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

thank you Harper for the intensely compelling The Coast Road by Alan Murrin. I requested this book when I saw an early review saying this is a must read and indeed this is a powerful literary fiction novel, one I can't wait for others to read and discuss.

A stealthily subtle examination of women's lives, the constraints of interwoven lives of women in a small town navigating the increasingly complex demands of their daily lives. Murrin offers a compelling, and dark, plot that brings in secrets and hurts in marriage/love/lust and themes on betrayal and commitment. It's powerful narrative, one that drew me in with the writing and the nuanced details and examination of Colette, Izzy, and how their worlds inevitably collide. I was truly mesmerized at times by how the story developed, at how Murrin offers a story that does not judge the characters, their behaviors, the decisions but instead asks us to see the pain, the constraints, the reasons that lead to their actions, to feel empathy in the face of women's lives in small town Ireland in 1994. It's noteworthy that a story about being stifled, feeling stuck or trapped, can invite a reader to experience so many emotions.

This is one ready for book club discussions and I am ready to see what this author can offer next.

I haven’t heard much about this amazing novel by Alan Murrin, but I loved everything about it. The story focuses on a cast of characters in a small Irish town when divorce was still illegal and husbands could literally keep their children from estranged wives. Collette, a woman in her 40s, leaves her family for a man in Dublin, returns home and tries to see her children. In the interim, her husband has taken up with a local waitress and does not allow Collette to see her children. Collette rents a small cottage near the ocean and enlists an acquaintance, Izzy, to help her get around her husband’s rules. This is a great combination of character studies and plot done well.

In a Nutshell: A literary fiction set in 1994 Ireland, when divorce wasn’t legally allowed. Interesting and layered characters, many points to ponder upon. A strong debut.

Plot Preview:
County Donegal, 1994.
Izzy, who is married to a local politician since many years, isn’t content with her life and her husband’s parochial attitude. She whiles her time by staying active in multiple activities, but she wonders if she should separate from her husband to liven up her life.
Colette left her husband and her sons some years ago to live with a married man in Dublin. Now she’s back, but her family no longer wants her. She rents a house by the coast road, while planning to earn some money through writing classes as well as trying to reconnect with her sons.
Dolores, married with three kids and pregnant with a fourth, knows that her husband cheats on her. But with limited options, she ignores his infidelity as much as she can. When she rents out the cottage on their property to Colette, little does she imagine what would happen next.
The story comes to us from the third person perspectives of multiple characters, including the above three women.


Bookish Yays:
✔ The characters: complicated, flawed, human. Can’t understand whether to root for them or not. Loved the nuanced depiction.
✔ Father Brian: When I saw the priest mentioned in this Irish work, I thought the story would go the typical way. But Fr. Brian is an interestingly complex character. Also, the approach towards organised religion and some of its control freaks is kept realistic and balanced.
✔ The writing approach: The initial chapters are somewhat episodic, with the narrative view point going from character to character. Helps us to know each of the key people well. Perfect approach for a character-oriented story.
✔ The setting: A small Irish town where everyone knows all the affairs of their neighbours, and yet, they don’t know the truth. Works excellently for such an intimate story. The coastal location is also incorporated well into the narrative.
✔ The Irish connection: Great representation of the 1990s social, political, and religious scene in Ireland.
✔ The lyrical writing, bringing depth to the town, the coast road and the humans equally well.
✔ The focus on the divorce referendum: As divorce was not legally allowed in Ireland till the mid-1990s, the only options available for women who suffered in their marriages were silence or separation. As expected, only women bear the repercussions of such a restrictive policy. The plot highlights the plight of many such women.
✔ The other themes, especially the sexist behaviour, the small-town tendency to gossip, the pressure on the women to stay thin and attractive for their husbands, and the scorn towards independent women, are equally powerfully depicted. I also enjoyed glimpses of Collette’s writing class.
✔ Three strong yet brittle female characters, written by a debut male author who does justice to their emotions without once succumbing to #MenWritingWomen tropes. Love how the women aren’t glorified or condemned for their choices. Rather, the plot lets us decide for ourselves what we want to feel about them.

Bookish Mixed Bags:
⚠ The pace is quite slow. As this is literary fiction, a slower tempo is the norm, but this one gets a tad too sluggish in between, making us feel as restricted as the women in the story.

Bookish Nays:
❌ The last quarter somehow doesn't hit the mark, I wish I could pinpoint why. It was not bad, but also not as impactful as the rest of the book. It felt unhinged somehow.
❌ There is not a single healthy marriage in the entire story. I wish the representation of marriage had been slightly more balanced, even if the plot required only the flip side of marital unions.
❌ The author's note is too brief. I'd have loved to know more about the divorce referendum and what happened next. But it hardly covers any of the history.

All in all, this is a satisfying debut, focussed on an important referendum of recent Irish history, and indirectly depicting why it was needed. Though the last section went a bit haywire, I still liked the book for its true-to-life portrayal of human emotions and fickleness.

For a debut work, the book aims high and hits much of the target without succumbing to the dreaded “kitchen sink syndrome’ by overloading themes. As is common in literary fiction, the story is somewhat sad, though the writing never feels like it is piling on the misery for maximum effect.

Definitely recommended to literary fiction lovers who love character-oriented fiction set around actual historical events.
4 stars.

My thanks to HarperVia and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Coast Road”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Thanks to Harper Via for a copy of The Coast Road.

This is a character-driven novel set in rural Donegal in 1994 before divorce was legal in Ireland. This is a story of a few women in town and their lives and the limits placed on them. It was beautifully written but very slow paced for me. I prefer more plot than character driven.

I did enjoy seeing the characters grow and change and this seems like a pretty good representation of small town rural Ireland in the early 90s and the challenges women faced.

I was drawn to this book because Dongeal is my favorite part of Ireland and I love Colm Toibin and this is compared to his work.

For Americans, this may be a harder read, as we have so many more freedcoms, and have had them so much longer than the woman in Ireland. So you have to read this book as a historical novel, and try to let go of modern rights and priveledges, and put yourself in Izzy and Colette's places. Alan does a great job in getting the female perspective-he understands Collete and the choices she made and he lets her tell her story in the way she wants to, Delores and Collete each are fighting against the patriarchal bounds that bind their lives, and each are breaking free in their own ways. As they lives intertwice and the town gossip works against them all, the question is who will find their inner peace, and move on from the ties that gag and bind them. Don't be surprised if you can't put this one down til long into the night!

I greatly enjoyed this debut novel. Set in the 1990s, in a tiny Irish town, population about 1000, whether Ireland will legalize divorce is the backdrop, women’s rights, the strictures and mores under which they live. The novel follows the lives of a few married women, reaching their middle years, mothers all, their marriages uniformly not as they want or perhaps expected. Among them is Colette, a poet, who left her husband, the wealthiest man in town, for a man she was sure she loved. Her husband has refused to let her see her sons, and when she leaves the affair, and returns from Dublin to the tiny town, her very existence will alter the lives of these other women, in big and small ways. The book, with its focus on a handful of lives, the small details, the ways one turn or another can change everything, reminded me of Anne Enright’s novels. I look forward to what the author writes next.

Thanks to Harper Via and Netgalley for the arc.

This book snuck up on me out of nowhere. I did not plan on loving it; I saw one good review and liked the cover and synopsis but I didn't think it would be a five star read. I honestly can't believe it's a debut novel. The setting (a small town in Ireland in the 1990s) was described so well. The characters came to life on the page.

The subtle but pervasive theme of divorce is what makes this especially well-written. I had no idea divorce wasn't legalized in Ireland until the late 90s. The plot follows several couples as they navigate relationships, especially infidelity, in a culture that does not allow for divorce (or abortion, and really frowns upon legal separation). It's interesting to see how characters are forced to make decisions in their marriages knowing that divorce is not an option.

The plot is actually pretty dark and the story is definitely heartbreaking but I thought it was beautifully written and really enjoyed reading it.

4.5 stars for The Coast Road by Alan Murrin.
It's been a long time since I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning reading a book, but this one kept me up well past midnight.
And what a pleasant surprise that a book focusing on women living in a small Irish town was written by a man!
The women all have troubled marriages - one has left her family, one considers leaving her family, one should probably leave her family.
The stories and fates intertwine in a small Irish town on the coast, where they all struggle to be their authentic selves, while dealing with the demands of their husbands and children.
I loved these characters, particularly the frustrated Izzy, who needs more than her current life gives her but isn't sure how to go about getting it.
And then there's Colette, who left her husband and children to live her authentic life, but is still struggling due to internal and external constraints.
And finally there is Dolores, who is fighting to keep her family together by ignoring her husband's wandering eyes and body.
This year I seem to be drawn to Irish novels (not on purpose) and here's another great one with an important story. Any one of us who has dealt with the expectations and constraints that women sometimes (often?) face will relate to this compelling story!
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for the advance readers copy, this review is my own true opinion.

This debut by Irish writer Alan Murrin absolutely blew me away. Set in Ireland during the 1990s, it explores the lives of three women in a country where divorce is not yet legal. All three characters face their own marital ups and downs, and the book explores how marriage is never black or white, especially when the choice to leave a toxic situation does not exist.

Have you ever read a book that grips your heart and soul so strongly that you know any words you try to use to describe it will be inadequate? This is how I feel about “The Coast Road.” Murrin created three strong female characters that have such depth and complexity that I found myself rooting for each one of them. I cheered with Izzy didn’t let her husband dim her shine. I wept with Colette as she dealt with her homecoming and its consequences. Even in the end, I wanted to spend more time with these women in their small Irish town.

If you are looking for tons of action, this is not the book for you. Its laziness and everyday situations are relatable to anyone who has lived in a small town. Shocker, not many exciting things happen in a small town, but it’s all anyone can talk about when they do.

I loved how we saw the town through three different lenses and the ensuing drama. Small spoiler: there is a priest involved in one of the storylines, which gave me major Fleabag vibes 😉

The topics of marriage, friendship, career, divorce, abortion, and parental rights are as relevant today as they were in the 1990s. The prose is absolute perfection, and “The Coast Road” was such an addicting and powerful debut that I cannot wait to see what else Murrin has in store for us.

My favorite quote: “She had exhausted herself with stories, spent her life and energy in always wanting things to be another way. The only thing that seemed to offer her comfort was the lesson she had taken from Colette-that acceptance was not the same as resignation.”

If you want a book that will transport you to another time and place, this is the one. So descriptive without being wordy, complex characters, topics of interest. It is a 5 star read for me!

An excellent debut novel, with complex characters, an intricate plot, and an atmospheric setting. I would have read this book just for the Irish setting, but the storyline pulled me in right away and kept me turning the pages.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

In the literary landscape of contemporary fiction, Alan Murrin’s “Coast Road” emerges as a poignant exploration of the human condition. Set against the backdrop of 1990s Ireland, a time when the country grappled with the constraints of traditional values, Murrin weaves a tale that is as much about the scenic Irish coast as it is about the inner landscapes of his characters.

The novel follows the intertwined lives of Izzy Keaveney and Colette Crowley, two women whose personal struggles reflect the broader societal challenges of the era. Izzy, trapped in a stifling marriage, seeks solace in the companionship of a parish priest, while Colette, a poet, grapples with the consequences of leaving her family for an affair. Their friendship becomes a lifeline, but also a catalyst for events that will alter their lives irrevocably.

Murrin’s prose is a masterclass in subtlety and depth. He captures the essence of the rugged Irish coast with a painter’s precision, using it as a metaphor for the tumultuous emotional states of his characters. The narrative is paced like the ebb and flow of the tide, pulling the reader into the depths of the characters’ experiences and then casting them back onto the shore, transformed.

The author’s portrayal of women’s autonomy is particularly striking. In a society where divorce is not yet legal, the female characters’ quest for independence is fraught with obstacles, yet their resilience shines through. Murrin does not shy away from the darker aspects of their journey, presenting a raw and unflinching look at the price of freedom.

“Coast Road” resonates with the echoes of Ireland’s past, yet its themes of struggle, empowerment, and redemption are timeless. It is a testament to the enduring spirit of its characters and the transformative power of human connection.

Set in Ireland in the 1990s, as the country approaches a referendum which will legalize divorce nationwide, The Coast Road shows the affects of marriage and patriarchy on the lives of those living in a small coastal town. Collette returns after leaving her family for a married man, only to have her husband refuse to let her see her children. Through a friendship she develops with Izzy, secret meetings with her youngest son are arranged, which will result in consequences for all involved. For fans of Elizabeth Stout and Colm Toibin.