The Coast Road

By: Alan Murrin

Narrated by: Jessica Regan

Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

‘I loved this novel ... An addictive read’ GILLIAN ANDERSON
‘Moves between rage, forgiveness and hope ... A stonkingly good novel’ SARAH WINMAN
‘A beautiful, accomplished debut’ LOUISE KENNEDY

It’s 1994 in County Donegal, Ireland, and everyone is talking about Colette Crowley – the writer, the bohemian, the woman who left her husband and sons to pursue a relationship with a married man in Dublin. But now Colette is back, and nobody knows why.

Returning to the community to try and reclaim her old life, Colette quickly learns that they are unwilling to give it back to her. The man to whom she is still married is denying her access to her children, and while the legalisation of divorce might be just around the corner, Colette finds herself caught between her old life and the freedom for which she risked everything. Desperate to see her children, she enlists the help of Izzy, a housewife and mother of two, and the women forge a friendship that will send them on a spiralling journey – one toward a path of self-discovery, and the other toward tragedy.

Brilliantly observed from a sharp new literary talent, The Coast Road is a novel about a closed community and the consequences of daring to move against the tide.

©2024 Alan Murrin (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

'Cheating husbands and wayward wives in a tiny coastal town, set during a time when divorce in Ireland was illegal, Alan Murrin’s The Coast Road had me at hello. The writing is spare and elegant, the setting atmospheric — indeed, Murrin’s Ardglas is a character in its own right. An assured, gripping debut from an author I hope to read more of' (Jamie Quatro, author of FIRE SERMON)

'This beautifully atmospheric novel is a dark, unsettling warning about how easily narrow attitudes can turn into dangerous ones. An eerie, urgent debut from an exciting new voice' (Neil Blackmore, author of RADICAL LOVE)