The Home Scar by Kathleen MacMahon
Synopsis
On opposite sides of the world, half-siblings Cassie and Christo have built their lives around work, intent on ignoring their painful past.
When a dramatic storm in Galway hits the headlines, they're drawn back there to revisit a glorious childhood summer, the last before their mother died. But their journey uncovers memories of a far less happy summer - one that had tragic consequences. Confronted with the havoc their mother left in her wake, Cassie and Christo are forced to face their past and - ready or not - to deal with the messy tangle of parental love and neglect that shaped them.
The Home Scar is a luminous and precise story about the inheritance of loss and the possibility of finally making peace with it.
Reviews
'A powerful story about legacy and loss and the possibility of reconciliation' Irish Times
'Her beautifully simple style belies psychological complexity . . . and her tone is wryly accepting' Big Issue
'Subtle and authentic' Claire Fuller
'A gorgeous story of sibling love. I thoroughly enjoyed following Cassie and Christo's quest to discover the tangled roots of a past that binds them together' Louise Nealon
'Kathleen MacMahon's subject is memory itself: how we remember - and the impact upon our future lives when our memories deceive us. Compassionate and poignant, The Home Scar is a work of considerable moral power' Neil Hegarty
'A very grown-up novel about life and love, of course, and above all, the repercussions of a disrupted childhood . . . a real tour de force' Christine Dwyer Hickey
About the Author
The Home Scar is Kathleen MacMahon's fourth novel. Her debut, This is How it Ends, was translated into more than twenty languages, spent five weeks at the top of the bestseller lists in Ireland, and was a Richard and Judy Book Club choice in the UK. It was followed by The Long, Hot Summer, also a bestseller in Ireland, and Nothing But Blue Sky, which was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2021. Kathleen is a former radio and television journalist with Ireland's national broadcaster, RTÉ, and she lives in Dublin with her family.