We Are Not In The World

An exquisite portrait of an extra-marital affair, of grief and shame, this is a tour de force of emotional and literary heft from a critically acclaimed author who counts John Banville and Kamila Shamsie among his fans.


'Stylish, deft...an absolutely fascinating novel' Guardian

'Haunting, mesmerising, and so deeply intelligent' Kamila Shamsie, author of Women's Prize for Fiction winning Home Fire

'Powerful...compelling and profoundly moving' Irish Times

'Heartbreaking, sweetly logical and tentatively hopeful' Spectator

Heartbroken after a long, painful love affair, a man drives a haulage lorry from England to France. Travelling with him is a secret passenger - his daughter. Twenty-something, unkempt, off the rails.

With a week on the road together, father and daughter must restore themselves and each other, and repair a relationship that is at once fiercely loving and deeply scarred.

As they journey south, down the motorways, through the service stations, a devastating picture reveals itself- a story of grief, of shame, and of love in all its complex, dark and glorious manifestations.
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What readers are saying-
***** 'The prose is sublime and deeply moving . . . a stunning novel'
***** 'Beautifully written, lyrical and unsettling in its exploration of human frailties, family, love, and loss, grief'
**** 'A haunting, tragic and highly original story of a father and daughter travelling across England and France in a haulage truck, and discovering more about their relationship and past in all its raw candour'


MORE PRAISE FOR WE ARE NOT IN THE WORLD-
'Unusual, utterly original and mysterious . . . a must read' Elaine Feeney
'...the book stays with you, a haunting presence you cannot - and do not want to - escape...astounding.' Ruth Gilligan Extraordinary...achingly sad and tender and sexy, and the writing is very beautiful.' Louise Kennedy
'Wonderful, wrenching . . . full of enormous feelings very precisely rendered' Sara Baume
'Elusive, unsettling, beautiful, haunting. This is a complex, devastating study of human relations; a portrait of intense love and damage in equal measure.' Lisa Harding
'A whirlpool of memories, regrets and hopes' Tim Pears
'An uncanny ability to turn the seemingly insignificant into something monumental' Jan Carson