Omg, wow. This is one of those books that's going to stick with me for a long, long time. With multiple generational stories in one, the way Catherine Airey connected every story line back together was chef's kiss. Despite not being very far into 2025, I can confidently say that it will remain one of my favorite books of the year.

This multi-generational book follows three women in Ireland and New York. I was hooked into the first storyline, which follows a girl whose father dies on 9/11, and I found it a bit harder to get into the second and third storyline because that first story was just so compelling, but overall I really enjoyed Confessions.

Really found this difficult to get into. The connection between the daughter and mothers stories was too tenuous and hard to follow.

"Confessions" by Catherine Airey was a powerful, complex novel tackling topics including 9/11, mental illness, trauma and dysfunction. Compelling and interesting! Thank you NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for this review copy.

This multi-generational story of women’s lives hit all the right spots for me. Hardship, love, trauma and perseverance. The story follows three generations of women who live in Ireland and NYC - and back again. No character was followed for very long which gave the feel of a story pieced together in the very best way. I was pulled in immediately and while the middle was a bit slower I gobbled up the end. And I was left with lots of thoughts about the choices we make to forge our own paths - and the choices made for two many.

This book has been comped to "Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" and "The Goldfinch" which is initially what drew me to pick this up, both books being favorite reads for me when they each came out. I will say that the comps are accurate and I would add that Tracey Lange fans will also really enjoy this.

This story is complex and compulsive that unravels twists and revelations among three generations of women told from multiple POVs, each having a very strong sense of voice. I loved the time that I got to spend with these characters and I don’t think I will be forgetting them for a long long time. Dramatic, messy intergenerational novels are becoming one of my favorite to read and this one did not disappoint.

This debut novel was enjoyable from start to finish! A complex, character-driven story that slowly pulls you in and keeps your attention with the events that ensue. The way that all the stories come together in the end of the story is brilliant and the strong finish makes the lulls that sometimes occur worth enduring. I recommend Confessions to any Sally Rooney and Caroline O'Donoghue fans.

Confessions is a multi-generational saga that takes place in Ireland and the United States. The saga begins with two sisters, Róisín and Máire live in County Donagel and both have a close relationship with Michael, a boy who works on the family farm and their father treats like a son. Máire is artistic and Michael and Róisín conspire to get Máire a position as the Artist in Residence at the Screamers House down the street. (Note: I googled the Screamers to learn they were a therapy commune in Ireland, but I might have missed that explanation in the novel.). Then, Máire gets a scholarship to study art at NYU. The other time periods/characters that the book focuses on is Cora in 2001 after the Twin Towers fall in NYCl and Lycra in 2018 who lives with her great-aunt Ro and her mother Cora.

This book started off extremely strong telling Cora’s story after she lost her father, her only living parent, in 9/11 in NYC. It then focused on Róisín and Máire and Máire‘s coming-of-age in NYC. Parts of that story nearly brought me to tears.

This is a seriously ambitious debut at 480 pages and about 1/2 the way through, the story lost its focus, in my opinion, and tried to do too many things and follow too many storylines. (One of them seemingly out of nowhere that did not fit at all had to do with video games.).

I will certainly keep my eye out for Catherine AIrey’s next book.

3.5 stars

DNF REVIEW • On paper, CONFESSIONS — following three generations of Irish women — was right up my alley. It’s an ambitious story divided into several parts, opening in 2001, shifting to 1974, and then jumping forward in time. The writing immediately captured my attention, but the characters remained elusive. Before I could fully connect to one, we were shifting to a different timeline. There was a disjointed element to the story that slowed the pace to the point that it felt like a chore to read. When I found myself constantly checking the percentage that I’d read (and then lamenting that I wasn’t further along), I realized it was time to call it quits. CONFESSIONS gotten a lot of positive feedback, and I do think it will be perfect for a different reader. I appreciated the opportunity to read it, even though it wasn’t the right fit for me.

If you enjoy books about family dynamics told from multiple POV, definitely grab Confessions!

I really enjoyed this book about several generations of women! I immediately was drawn into the story and didn’t want to put it down. I was a little surprised when the book shifted narrators and it took me a little longer to feel invested in Moira’s story as the voice shift was a bit jarring for me. I did eventually get invested in each narrator’s story and enjoyed how they all came together! It was interesting to see the women from different perspectives as well as at different ages.

I would have loved more of Cora’s perspective but overall found this book to be a great read that I think most people will enjoy!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Confessions by Catherine Airey was an exceptional read, timely and important.

In alternating timelines, we travel from 1970s Ireland, to aughts NYC, back to modern Ireland after the referendum. Catherine Airey's debut is thoughtful and contemplative and I really enjoyed the ways that each storyline connected with the others. Some authors struggle with this but I think it was very deftly managed by Airey.

A family saga that contends with what is to be a woman, what it is to be part of a family, and the complexity of the world around us, Confessions tackles a lot. What I think it does best is give us the characters of Maire, Cora, Lyca, and Roisin. All beautiful characters who feel real and fleshed out, I was deeply invested in all of their lives.

I had not heard of this book when I decided to download it from NetGalley, but recently started to see it talked about on social media so decided to bump it up in my stack. I am obsessed -- probably the best book I've read so far this year and I could not put it down.

This book shifts narrators, time periods, and contents. At first I was so invested in the first narrator that I was frustrated to switch away from her, but then I got so invested in the next and ultimately love how the story was woven together and all the information was revealed. I had chills at one point and was just in awe of how the narrative is told. The writing itself is so lovely too, I loved each of the characters deeply and could visualize all of the locations.

Catherine Airey writes all the different ages of women so accurately -- I could relate to so much of it from so many times in my life. I loved the historical events and movements that were woven in as well.

Lyca was my favorite of the narrators - I loved her story, it was so sweet and tender.

I would recommend this book to anyone -- it is really so good. I am so excited to see what Catherine Airey writes next -- I cannot believe this was a debut novel! So, so good.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Thank you to Mariner Books for the free ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Out now!

NYC, September 11th. 15 year old Cora Brady watches the towers fall and knows her father, Michael, was one of the many people that day who didn’t make it out. Totally alone, she receives a letter from her long lost aunt Roison in Ireland inviting her to come live her. What follows is the story of sisters Roisin and Moira - Cora’s deceased mother - and how their secrets and decisions shape the future generations of women in the family, up to Lyca Brady in 2018.

This book really covers a lot - loss and grief, abandonment, r*pe, drug use, mental health, abortion. It felt a little disconnected - each POV is mainly without or apart from the other characters presence, if that makes sense, for various reasons. Ex Moira’s POV is her on her own in America, Cora’s POV is her alone in NYC, Roisin’s POV is mainly herself alone in Ireland. I found it interesting that we didn’t see many interactions between the main characters but they still had secrets that profoundly impacted one another. Overall a solid generational drama.

Quite good but moves very slowly. I wouldn't recommend to someone looking for a real page turner, but you won't put it down either. Need to sit with it longer to process but enjoyed a lot.

*3.5 stars

Confessions follows three generations of women between New York and Ireland as it unravels each of their stories, secrets, and innermost desires.

This family saga is told through a non-linear timeline and multiple perspectives, which I personally love. I appreciated Airey’s skill in making each of the character’s voices distinct and recognizable, and setting the tones of their chapters apart from one another. Without giving too much away, the author also makes a unique choice in how she frames and structures the narrative, which I thought was clever and provided another layer of meaning. It was a nice touch that helped make the separate perspectives come together cohesively, and also to structure the nonlinear timelines in a neat way.

As for pacing, I would say this is a medium to slow-paced novel. It took a little while for me to get fully invested in the characters. I kept reading mostly because the prose kept hooking me. But, there were some perspectives I preferred to others. Lyca was probably my favorite, and she doesn’t appear until the latter third of the book. There were parts of the narrative I would have liked to have spent more time in, and parts I feel could have been shortened.

Still, I would recommend Confessions for readers who enjoy family sagas with multiple perspectives and timelines. It’s an impressive debut!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!*

Catherine Airey's multi-generational novel that weaves the lives of three of women from 9/11 in NYC, to 1970s Ireland, to late 90s NYC, and back to present-day Ireland. After losing her father in 9/11, Cora becomes an orphan, having lost her mother years earlier. In the midst of confusion and chaos, a letter from her unknown Aunt Róisín in Ireland offers Cora a new home. Growing up in Ireland, Lyca discovers family secrets that interconnect her entire family throughout generations. Overall, this contemporary fiction novel was well-written. While I did find myself having to stop and remind myself of the family connections, the changing setting from 2000s to 1970s and 1980s and present-day helped move the novel along. I preferred that the story was not written in chronological order and allowed me to put together pieces and connections. I am looking forward to more by Catherine Airey!

Confessions is a family saga that tells the story of three generations of women. The narrative and location alternates between Ireland and September 11 in NYC. This book hits you like a gut punch - it tackles grief, loss, friendship, family, and place. It reminded me of some of Maeve Binchy's earlier works - I'll definitely want to read future books by Catherine Airey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for this ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Confessions by Catherine Airey.

Get ready to play the long game with this book! You are essentially getting three very rich stories, interwoven into one tale. First, Cora, right during the 2001 attacks, and the loss of her remaining parent. Rewind to Roisin and Moire, two Irish sisters who slowly lose themselves. And then fast forward to 2018 to Lyca who lives with her aunt and just trying to understand who she is and where she came from.

I was SO into this book for about the first half. But eventually it became a bit too much. I started struggling to put together who belonged to who, and gave up a few times. However, the parts that I loved, I LOVED, so I'm giving this a 3.5, round to 4. Catherine Airey really can write a dang good story.

Confessions is a rich, literary read following three generations of women in an Irish family. Over four plus decades, Airey explores pregnancy, loss, relationships, abortion, mental health, religion, art and more.

This is a slow moving story, with separate sections diving into each character's perspective in a different time, from the late 1970s through 2023, and the pieces don't really come together until close to the end. We start in the aftermath of 9/11 with 16-year old Cora Brady, whose father, Michael, worked on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center. Having lost her mother, Máire, years earlier, she's alone after her father's death and spend the weeks after the attacks moving through the city in a daze. A letter from her distant aunt, Róisín, who still lives in Ireland breaks Cora out of her stupor, and she moves across the Atlantic to the small town her parents came from.

The story continues into Róisín's perspective as a child in rural Ireland, living in the shadow of her mercurial, artistically talented, and sometimes cruel sister, Máire, who begins a relationship with their next-door neighbor, Michael, during their teen years. Over the course of the novel, we follow these three young adults as Máire moves to New York to study art and through the many changes in their lives, loves, and art. At the end of the novel we meet Lyca Brady, Cora's teenage daughter, whose curiosity reveals secrets held for decades.

Lovers of literary fiction who enjoy slow-paced, richly unfolding stories will enjoy this debut!

@marinerbooks | #gifted My first 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄🌟 read of 2025: 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 by debut author Catherine Airey. This book was exactly what I look for in great literature. It was quite simply a beautifully written story with deep, well-developed characters. The sort of book you immediately fall into, can’t stop reading, but never want to finish.⁣
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The story opens powerfully as 16-year old Cora Brady wakes up on the morning of 9/11/2001. She sees the horrifying news, the smoke and debris in the distance, and the quiet chaos in the streets below her building. Her father works for Cantor Fitzgerald. From there, the story moves between NYC and a small town in Ireland, following not just Cora, but three generations of women in her family, each as interesting, as complex as the next. With the story moving both backward and forward in time, there is no single star in this book. Instead, each woman shines in her own right thanks to Airey who artfully crafts the lives of the women in Cora’s family.⁣
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I know I’ve not given you much to go on, so you’re going to need to trust me. The publisher compares this book to 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩 and 𝘛𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘹𝟹. I can see the former, and less so the later. I think a better comparison is 𝘛𝘩𝘦⁣
𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘧 by Brit Bennett, though even that’s not quite there. Comparisons aside, if you have similar reading tastes to mine, love stories of family or those set in Ireland, you MUST read 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟