The blurb for Catherine Airey’s Confessions promises an involving tale of two Irish sisters, one of whom emigrates to New York to take up an art school scholarship ticking two of my literary boxes. Máire and Rósín’s stories span several decades beginning in the 1970s when they’re growing up in an Irish village not far from the house which one will paint and the other will eventually live in, making it the setting for a choose-your-own-adventure computer video game.
It opens in 2001 with Máire’s daughter before winding back to her sister Rósín in the ‘70s and ending with Máire’s granddaughter in 2023 after passing the narrative baton back and forth. Each section is prefaced with a scenario from Scream School, the computer video game which Rósín wrote based on the stories she and her sister wove around the house they were fascinated by. Airey smoothly unfolds this complicated, puzzle of a story, pieces of which click satisfyingly into place, largely through the distinctive voices of its female characters, exploring a multitude of themes along the way. To say more about the plot would be to ruin it. There’s a coincidence that may irritate some, but I was so immersed by then that I was more than happy to continue the ride. A long, intricately plotted, luxurious read, perfect for long evenings in January when it’s due to be published

A family saga which gripped my heart and refused to let go.

The novel opens with Cora, a teenage girl who has just found out that her father has been killed in the September 11 attacks. Her mother having already died, she has now been rendered an orphan, and has received a letter from her mother's sister in Ireland, inviting Cora to live with her.

From there, we go back in time to the 70s, to Cora's mother Maire and her sister Roisin. Of all the compelling protagonists (Cora, Maire, Roisin and, later, Cora's daughter Lyca) it's Roisin who touched me the most. At her heart, she is simply a good girl who wants to do right by her family and herself. Maire bullies her and later takes up with a young man named Michael, whose presence changes Roisin's fate as well.

Next, we come to Maire's story, ass he arrives in New York to study. This aspect of the novel is unremittingly tragic. Three men enter Maire's life, one after the other, sending a wrecking ball through her life. This was the hardest section in the book for me, and the author handles issues of consent so sensitively. We are also made privy to the situation back home in Ireland, as Roisin and Michael struggle to navigate through a life without Maire.

After this, we lurch forward to the 2010s for our final protagonist, Lyca, who is looking back and trying to figure out what really happened to her mother, grandmother and great-aunt, and the impact this has had on her life. Without spoiling too much, this focusses very much on the history of reproductive rights in Ireland.

As a woman, this novel will make you angry. The injustices that befall these women simply for the fact that they are female will boil your blood. But this will also leave you with hope and belief in the strength women gain from themselves and with each other.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for the ARC!

This book is due to be published in Jan 2025. Many thanks to the publishers, Penguin and Viking, and to Netgalley, for a free review copy, in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.
I love a book that just dives straight in. This one opens with a bang, literally.

We meet Cora living in NYC with her father. It is September 11th, 2001. Cora has skipped school and grew impatient waiting for her drug dealer boyfriend to call around, so she drops some acid. Then she switches on the TV and sees the attack on the Twin Towers, where her father is working. A new perspective on ‘where were you when….’

[As a sidebar, I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the interior of the towers, triggering memories of my own visits there and eating at the ‘Windows of the World’ restaurant. There were 99 elevators in each! Sometimes the water in the toilet bowels was not level, as the towers swayed on their foundation.]

The book follows three women across three generations slipping between NYC and rural Ireland; Cora, Roisin (her aunt) and Lyca (her daughter). Cora seemed lonely in her life; she feels unseen. We learn Cora’s deceased mother Maire was an artist with mental health issues. This takes us to Maires backstory in Ireland where she was not at all nice to her sister Roisin. Through Maires later experiences in NYC, we learn danger is not where you would expect it and there are quite some unexpected shocks and twists.

There are many strong secondary characters, Franny, Scarlett and of course Michael. The book also covers those years in Ireland where abortion and homosexuality remained illegal or frowned upon. There is a scene where Cora put a t-shirt on her baby Lyca saying, “I should have been a choice”, and took her to a pro-abortion march. Gosh!

It is a complex but highly engaging family saga masterfully delivered. I could not put this book down!

New York, September 2001

"The voices became screams when the North Tower fell too. I turned off the TV and closed my eyes, covered my ears with my hands and thought about how ostriches bury their heads in the sand."

Cora Brady is home alone when live news coverage from the Twin Towers brings with it the realisation that her father won't be coming home. A heartbreaking start that gripped and led me straight into this immersive and beautifully written novel.

Originally from County Donegal in Ireland her mother had come to New York to attend art school and her father a childhood sweetheart had followed some years later. With both parents now dead Cora takes up her aunt Rosin's invitation and travels to Ireland.

Moving back and forth in time between rural Ireland and New York, this multi-generational novel tells of two sisters growing up in the 70's on a farm in rural Ireland, the different paths that led to them being separated by an ocean and the nearby house that had such a big impact on both their lives.

A slow burn, immersive and beautifully descriptive novel of family, friendship, choices and what might have been.

A really perfect novel - not what I was expecting at all. Impeccable writing style with an intriguing story that kept me reading and wanting to know more - I still want to know more about this family. Loved it.

Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for my ARC.

Confessions is an absolutely gorgeous debut novel, one which I can't quite believe is a debut. This book hooked me from the first page and I hated every time I had to put it down and go back into reality, I would just keep thinking about it and longing for the next time that I could pick it up. The characters are so vivid and beautifully developed, each one jumps off the page and pulls you into their world with such ease. It's a tense, haunting, emotional, action-packed story which really makes you feel the characters pain and will have you in shock, disbelief, and tears of frustration and hurt. I can see why this is Viking's lead novel for 2025 - the world is going to love this book.

Fantastic debut and interesting structure with complex characters. Three generations of women, New York and rural Ireland, this book was very hard to put down!

Confessions by Catherine Airey

Three generations of women from the 1980s to the present day, moving from Ireland to New York and back to Ireland, this book tells the story of lives of sisters Maire and Roisin, and their families.

Wow this book absolutely blew me away - it's my book of the year out of 89 read! In fact it's probably one of my favourite books ever. Epic in all senses of the word it covers multiple characters, generations, timespans and locations in such a clever and fantastic way. A masterpiece! I will be urging everyone I know to read it and hope that it achieves the success it deserves. Can't wait to read what Catherine Airey writes next. Very VERY highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Readers tempted by Penguin UK's stunning cover will be well rewarded. Confessions is an ambitious and impressive debut from Anglo/Irish writer Catherine Airey.
These three generations of women hold secrets which are revealed slowly as the family splinters and rejoins across countries and decades. I can highly recommend this novel about losing parents, the bonds and conflicts between sisters, mother/daughter relationships and the challenges facing women over the last three decades.
Catherine Airey writes confidently and with a compassion towards her characters. I'm keen to see where her literary career goes next.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy to review.

I absolutely loved this book, I couldn’t stop reading it. This boom grabbed me from the start. We follow Cora, on the day of 9/11, and how her father worked there. Cora’s mum has already passed away so she goes to Ireland to Donegal to her aunt (her mum’s sister) who she has never met, the story is told from the points of view of Cora, her mum Máire, her aunt Róisín and then her daughter Lyca. We learn about Máire’s backstory first and how she ended up in NYC and her life there. From there it is the other characters, which spreads over a number of decades. It is a very engaging and well written family saga. I loved the connections between the characters.

Many thanks to the publishers Penguin and Viking, and to Netgalley, for a free review copy in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

A propulsive novel, that takes on so much of social, political and cultural history in Ireland and the US over 3 generations. It has a host of characters, mainly female that are fully drawn out that at times you forget this is a book and not people that you know. Michael was a boy-o and I didn’t not like him, he just wanted his cake and to eat it as well. Also wasn’t sure the Sanjeet character added much to the story, but the female characters are strongly written.

It has 9/11, the AIDS crisis, Repeal the 8th, gaming, an LGBTQ element and lots more. It is complex, and I did wonder how it all tied up but that is what is enjoyable and indeed a strength to the story.

It’s being published Jan 2025, and I read a gifted digital arc from @vikingbooksuk
If it is still available on @netgalley , send your request in as I hope this is going to be a sensation.

Very excited for this beautiful generational book and getting to read and experience the richness of these women’s stories. I apologize due to an unexpected severe health issue I’m slowly catching up on reviews, but will be offering a much more detailed review in the near future. I am honored and privileged to have the opportunity to read this book and share my thoughts as well as bring it to readers

Many of the reviews that I have read of this novel express surprise that it is a debut and I would agree 100%. This reads like an accomplished novelist who has found her voice rather than a debut.

The book begins telling the story of Cora(line), who loses her father in 9/11 and feels lost in New York City. A letter from an unknown aunt propels her across the Atlantic and the story moves on to hear about her mother and aunt's lives growing up in Ireland and then a third story (won't say who) is also told.

All in all, a moving story above love, loss. grief and many more issues which I really enjoyed.

I really enjoyed this book. It covered a lot of topics and I really warmed to the characters. Set between Ireland and America during some real turning points in the countries histories. I felt a lot of emotions reading this one and will remember it for time to come.

A wonderful story about three generations of women, all affected by the oldest woman's mental illness which reverberates through their lives. The story is engrossing, the writing is beautiful and although very little happens at times it's never boring and never drags. I found the switch to the second person narration for Máire a little confusing and strange and it briefly interrupted the flow but then I felt that it actually added another dimension to the wonderful story-telling. Highly recommended.

What can I say about this book! A solid 5 stars - I was completely absorbed from beginning to end. The story was immersive, the writing sublime and the characters were so well developed! A wonderful new writer, and I can't wait to see what comes forth in the future. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reader copy.