WHERE
THEY WERE MISSED
Where They Were Missed was first published by Viking in March
2006. It was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas
Prize and the Waverton
Good Read Award.
Foreign Editions:
Slovenia:
Poletje v Belfastu
Lucy Caldwell
translated
by Marta Graj,
Tržič, Učila
International, 2008.
[COBISS.SI-ID
237409792]
Germany
Sommer in Belfast,
Lucy Caldwell
translated by Tina Neuland, Parthas
Verlag, 2006.
ISBN-10: 3866011016
ISBN-13: 978-3866011014
Synopsis
"The back yard of Saorise and Daisy’s
house can be a perilous place: boys from down the road leave
unwelcome ‘presents’ at the gate, the girls’ father comes home
late with a swollen jaw, and they have to rush indoors and shut
the windows tight when marchers pass, even on the hottest day
of the year. And while there is respite to be had at Antonini’s
Ice Cream Parlour and in their mother’s bedtime stories, the
walls of the house cannot protect this family for ever, and when
a tragedy occurs at its heart the fragile ties that bind them
together begin to break apart.
Ten years later in rural Ireland, Saoirse
is building a new life for herself. She is dreaming again: of
her prom night, of her future, and of the wayward but handsome
Johnny Mahon. But, as she learns to her cost, she has still not
fully escaped the fallout of that unforgettable Belfast summer
a decade before. As her past, present and future become inextricably
tangled, Saoirse is forced to confront her family’s demons, if
she is ever to begin a new life of her own.
Where They Were Missed is
a heartbreaking story of domestic tragedy and the loneliness
of suffering. In a world where everyday violence taps on the
surface of people’s lives, Lucy Caldwell evokes the pain of an
incomprehensible loss, as she charts a young girl’s search for
forgiveness.
Reviews
Where They Were Missed is a work of the highest
order: unsettling, unflinching, but finally uplifting. Lucy Caldwell’s
touch is both fresh and assured. Here is a literary star in the
making.
Glenn Patterson
A debut reminiscent of Ian McEwan’s
The Cement Garden and Trezza Azzopardi’s The Hiding Place.
Vogue
I can think of few novels written by an author
in her early twenties which are as accomplished as this one.
David
Pierce, Irish Studies Around The World 2007
It is difficult to do justice to the remarkable
nature of this novel, so searing in its presentation of naked
sorrow and so moving in the heroine’s courage.
Tablet
An assured and arresting tale… A heartbreaking
and evocative story… A refreshingly different novel about the
Northern tragedy and its ongoing effects on ordinary people.
Rowena
Walsh, Irish Independent
A spirited work, for all its sadness, and written
with insight and economy.
Patricia Craig, TLS
Excellent… all too believable.
Ireland on Sunday |
