The River Capture

‘Exceptional’ The Times’Luminous . . . Unexpected’ GuardianShortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, the Dalkey Literary Awards and the Kerry Group AwardsLuke O’Brien has left Dublin to live a quiet life on the bend of the River Sullane. Alone in his big house, he longs for a return to his family’s heyday and turns to books for solace. One morning a young woman arrives at his door, presenting Luke and his family with an almost impossible dilemma.

Reviews of The River Capture

Costello's writing is truly beautiful and this book will hypnotise you from the first page to the last * * Stylist * * Intense, engrossing, a novel that constantly subverts the reader's expectation – Mary Costello is a truly startling talent — KEVIN BARRY Powerful . . . The River Capture reminds us that everything is connected, that we are, as humans, not separate from the teeming world of nature around us . . . Lyrical * * Financial Times * * A hypnotic read revealing how the ebb and flow of memory, family loyalty and love can disrupt the current of a life * * Mail on Sunday * * Astonishingly bittersweet and beautiful, The River Capture is a quiet, important, hypnotic book about absolutely everything. It is as near perfect as it is possible for a novel to be — SARA BAUME The River Capture is breathtaking. It is profound in the most bruising way; elegant, and then thrillingly savage; expansive, but masterfully precise, and full of sentences that made me choke on jealous rage. Costello is in a different class altogether — LISA McINERNEY Luminous . . . Unexpected . . . An audacious act of literary ventriloquism and one that Costello pulls off astonishingly successfully . . . Joyce devotees will discover much to enjoy in this clever homage, while fans of contemporary Irish literature will find a subtle, slightly melancholy, engrossing read — Melissa Harrison * * Guardian * * An intellectual romp through language and word philosophy, and a self-confessed homage to James Joyce . . . Costello writes insightfully * * Sunday Times * * Elegantly written . . . Exquisite and impressionistic prose * * Observer * * One of the most surprising and original novels of 2019 . . . Exceptional . . . This is a sensory book that draws on the body to feed the mind * * The Times * *