The Irish Goodbye

As an Irish–American family gathers for Thanksgiving weekend at their home on Long Island, they must confront the decades-old tragedy that haunts them all. A beautiful, compassionate drama from debut author Heather Aimee O'Neill, perfect for fans of The Paper Palace , Claire Lombardo and Coco Mellors.

An extraordinary book about the power of family and sisterhood . . . shows how the ripples of loss and grief can shape even our closest relationships

Absorbing, sharply funny and thoroughly satisfying

Briskly paced and resisting the ever-present lure of soap opera, The Irish Goodbye is a solid family drama

The Irish Goodbye has it all: a lovable cast of complex characters; forbidden affairs; a stately, crumbling beach house; a doomed sailboat; long-suppressed family secrets; and one pressure-cooker of a holiday weekend. Above all, this finely-crafted novel explores what it means to be a family, and what we owe each other and ourselves

A sparkling debut, The Irish Goodbye is a rich, compassionate novel about sisterhood, marriage, grief, and forgiveness

The family saga we all need – utterly un-put downable, beautifully drawn, thrilling and heartfelt at once and totally not to be missed. Heather Aimee O'Neill has arrived with gorgeous skills and a keen eye for what drives families apart, and brings them together, too

Fully developed characters and heartfelt revelations make this a riveting read - one that will linger with you long after the final page

Lovingly rendered and acutely felt, The Irish Goodbye takes the reader into the aching, complicated nooks and crannies of a single family trying to find their way back to one another, even as none is sure they have hold of themselves. A beautiful and moving debut

With beautiful writing and a cast of memorable characters, this is another debut you won't be able to put down

The fully developed characters and revelations make this a riveting read

Emotionally gripping and achingly poignant, The Irish Goodbye is about the secrets we keep from our families and from ourselves. In the Ryans, Heather Aimee O’Neill has created a family that, despite its glimmering specificity, could very well be our own. Mesmerizing

I picked up The Irish Goodbye one morning and finished it later that night, unable to do anything else until I got to the end. These characters captured my heart, and I got lost in this family weekend full of secrets, resentment, and emotional landmines. Heather Aimee O’Neill has written a beautiful debut about family, grief, love, and loss

This has the ingredients I love in a novel: families, a gathering and a coastal Long Island setting

Fans of writers from Maeve Binchy to Alice McDermott to J. Courtney Sullivan will relish this big-hearted novel

O’Neill, a poet and writing coach, brings her skills to her compelling debut . . . this melancholy yet loving novel is perfect for fans of Jennifer E. Smith’s Fun for the Whole Family

Readers of The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill will be hooked from the first page of this multifaceted, charming story that manages to remain a light-hearted joy to read despite some of its heavy content

Both devastating and hopeful in equal measure, The Irish Goodbye is a stunning debut: emotionally rich, thoughtful, and just unforgettable. A book to savour, and one that will stay with you long after the final page.

Heather Aimee O'Neill teaches creative writing at CUNY Hunter College of New York and is the assistant director of the Sackett Street Writers' Workshop. She is the author of the poetry collection Obliterations (Red Hen Press / co-authored with Jessica Piazza) and the poetry chapbook Memory Future (winner of the Gold Line Press Award). She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their sons. The Irish Goodbye is her first novel.