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Book cover of Soldier Sailor

Soldier Sailor

Longlisted for the Women's Prize 2024

Claire Kilroy

14
Coup de coeur
Coup de coeur (Literature), by Linda

Soldier is struggling to adapt to life as a new mother following the birth of her beloved son, Sailor. Daily, she wrestles with the choking love she feels for her son and the overwhelming urge to walk away from this new existence. With an ineffectual husband in the background, Kilroy deftly demonstrates how the burden of childcare and household management falls unfairly on the shoulders of the woman. This beautifully written - and often funny - book is a force of nature, a book that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go until the final page. I felt like a ragdoll in its jaws.

AS HEARD ON FRONT ROW, A SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN AND FT 'SUMMER READ'

‘My favourite book I’ve read this year' PANDORA SYKES
'Intense, furious, moving and often extremely funny' DAVID NICHOLLS

‘Astonishing’ Stephanie Merritt, Observer
'Very, very funny' PAUL MURRAY


In one of the most acclaimed novels of the year, her first in over a decade, Claire Kilroy takes us deep into the mind of her unforgettable heroine.

Exploring the clash of fierce love for a new life with a seismic change in identity, she vividly realises the tumultuous emotions of a new mother. As her marriage strains and she struggles with questions of love, autonomy creativity and the passing of time, an old friend makes a welcome return - but can he really offer a lifeline to the woman she used to be?

Readers adore Soldier Sailor:

***** 'About as perfect a piece of writing as you'll find.'
***** 'Unbearably tense and frequently hilarious.'
***** 'An entirely different voltage to anything I've read ... she somehow manages to verbalise *exactly* the feelings and thoughts I, certainly, had at points when I was a young mother'
***** 'This story touched me on such a visceral level.'
***** 'I was held captive by this novel ... an utterly absorbing depiction of motherhood'
***** 'I loved this book. Any woman, with or without children, will see themselves mirrored in this narrative'
***** 'An excellent, interesting and rather unforgettable creation.'

Publisher: Faber & Faber
Binding: Paperback
Publication date: 07 Mar 2024
Dimensions: 129 x 198 x 21 mm
ISBN: 9780571375578