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Home stretch / Graham Norton.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: London : Coronet, 2020Description: 362 pages ; 20 cmISBN:
  • 9781473665163
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 823 NOR
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Standard Loan LSAD Library Fiction Collection 823 NOR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) In transit from LSAD Library to Moylish Library since 24/04/2023 39002100610352

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

'Graham is a lovely writer and this is by far his best. The passage of time is beautifully handled, and the emergence of Ireland into the modern world is a joy to read... There's a lovely kindness and a fundamental goodness at the heart of this book. A great read!' RUSSELL T. DAVIES

'A real page-turner, the kind of warmth and magical storytelling that puts me in mind of the late, great Maeve Binchy... a writer of real strength and talent.' LORRAINE KELLY

'[A] compelling, bighearted, emotionally precise page-turner.' THE SUNDAY TIMES

'Beautiful and heartbreaking.' PANDORA SYKES

'Graham Norton's bestselling novel gives a warm and perceptive account of tragedy, self-discovery and forgiveness in a tightly knit community.' THE DAILY MAIL

'intelligent and tenderly observed' THE TIMES

'Full of heart and humanity and I loved every single page. What a storyteller!' ELIZABETH DAY

'a thoughtful examination of sexual identity, shame, and the impact of collective grief' OBSERVER

'Graham Norton's new novel has me in floods... His gift for characterisation is positively Binchy-esque! Such nuance and warmth! It's GORGEOUS' MARIAN KEYES

'I loved HOME STRETCH ... one of those books that stays with you so long after you've finished it' NIGELLA LAWSON

'A subtle portrait of small-town Ireland; an unblinking study of shame & homophobia; a map of cultural shifts between 1980s & now; a kind, wise, perceptive novel by an author rich in these qualities.' DAVID MITCHELL

'Beautifully written. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy read. Utterly fantastic.' LIZ NUGENT

'Graham Norton's examination of small-town Irish lives continues in his deeply moving third novel. He is a magnificent writer.' JOHN BOYNE

'[Graham Norton is a] king of the page turners... A total triumph' ANNE GRIFFIN

'What right has such a successful entertainer to write a novel as good as this?' SUNDAY EXPRESS

Shame and longing can flow through generations, but the secrets of the heart will not be buried for ever.

It is 1987 and a small Irish community is preparing for a wedding. The day before the ceremony a group of young friends, including bride and groom, drive out to the beach. There is an accident. Three survive, but three are killed.

The lives of the families are shattered and the rifts between them are felt throughout the small town. Connor is one of the survivors. But staying among the angry and the mourning is almost as hard as living with the shame of having been the driver. He leaves the only place he knows for another life, taking his secrets with him. Travelling first to Liverpool, then London, he makes a home - of sorts - for himself in New York. The city provides shelter and possibility for the displaced, somewhere Connor can forget his past and forge a new life.

But the secrets, the unspoken longings and regrets that have come to haunt those left behind will not be silenced. And before long, Connor will have to confront his past.

Graham Norton's powerful and timely novel of emigration and return demonstrates his keen understanding of the power of stigma and secrecy - with devastating results.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Graham Norton has written four other novels, all Sunday Times bestsellers, in the UK and Ireland. His fiction writing has won him critical acclaim from across all media and the literary community. Holding won the An Post Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction. A Keeper was shortlisted for both the Specsavers Popular Fiction Award and the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction. Home Stretch won the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction and has been optioned for a major TV series. Holding was made into a high-profile ITV drama, directed by Kathy Burke, and Forever Home was shortlisted at the 2022 Irish Book Awards. Graham Norton is one of the UK's most respected and beloved broadcasters and presenters. He has won nine BAFTAs for Best Entertainment Performance and Best Entertainment Programme. He presents The Graham Norton Show on BBC One, is the BBC's commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest and is a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race UK. Graham won the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards in 2017. He is the host of The Graham Norton Book Club podcast.

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