Author(s): Elaine Feeney

Contemporary Fiction

One of the most buzzed-about Irish debuts of 2020- a novel for our timesDiscover this unforgettable, darkly funny novel about the power of friendship and the heartbreak of family life - shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021.'AMAZING' Marian Keyes 'BEAUTIFUL' Douglas Stuart 'FABULOUS' Kevin Barry 'THRILLING' Nicole Flattery__________Sinead Hynes is a tough, driven, funny young property developer with a terrifying secret. No-one knows it- not her fellow patients in a failing hospital, and certainly not her family. She has confided only in Google and a shiny magpie. But she can't go on like this, tirelessly trying to outstrip her past and in mortal fear of her future. Across the ward, Margaret Rose is running her chaotic family from her rose-gold Nokia. In the neighbouring bed, Jane, rarely but piercingly lucid, is searching for a decent bra and for someone to listen. Sinead needs them both. As You Were is about intimate histories, institutional failures, the kindness of strangers, and the darkly present past of modern Ireland. It is about women's stories and women's struggles. It is about seizing the moment to be free.__________ An Evening Standard, Observer and Daily Telegraph Book of the Year An Observer Best Debut 2020 Winner of the Kate O'Brien Award 2021 Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year 2020'Extraordinary... This is writing that often reaches into your heart' Evening Standard'Exhilarating...gloriously full of life' Irish Independent'Feeney's voice is at once fresh and sharp, with an eye for comedy' Observer