Sweep the Cobwebs Off the Sky

As spring evenings lengthen over Kilnavarn House, two sisters, looking after their infirm mother, navigate the fragile territory between past and present.

 

Memories of a troubled upbringing resurface and the house holds onto the women, as it always has, refusing to let them go until long suppressed truths are spoken.

 

Sweep the Cobwebs off the Sky is a tender exploration of ageing, memory, place, and the desire for reconciliation.​

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‘Sweep the Cobwebs Off the Sky is a subtle, intricate and thoughtful study of life, of the painful process of ageing, of sibling rivalry and the vicissitudes of family. I have no doubt it will be a success with reviewers and readers alike.’

John Banville: author of Booker Prize winning, The Sea.

 

‘This is a profound novel about the life of a dutiful daughter, caring for her once beautiful, charming mother – now suffering from dementia in her old age. The complex relationships of mother and daughter, and of sisters, are explored with compassion and sharp psychological insight. Perfectly drawn characters,lyrical but lucid writing, and above all an understanding of the love and hate, patience and intolerance, which can bind or destroy families, render this Mary O’Donnell’s finest novel. Seldom has the role of the daughter as carer for the aged parent been so subtly and honestly portrayed. It’s a masterpiece.’

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne: Laureate of Irish Fiction.

 

‘A piercing exploration of the immemorial themes: family, memory and the desire to investigate the mystery of what holds us together.’

Colum McCann: author of Let the Great World Spin.

 

‘Absorbing, meditative, and deeply attentive to the power of place – and to the long shadows that memory casts across our lives.’

Neil Hegarty: author of Inch Levels and The Jewel.

 

‘Sweep the Cobwebs Off the Sky is a brilliant study of the blighted relationships within a family. In scenes that are deeply moving, and in moments that can veer from the tender to the tempestuous, it evokes the extreme feelings, vulnerabilities and contradictions of love that exist in all families. More than anything, O’Donnell captures, with vim and verve, the sometimes brutal love between a mother and daughter.’

Mary Costello: author of The Irish Times Bestseller, Barcelona.

 

‘An intimate and searingly honest book that surely will stand amongst the very best of Irish novels.’

Christine Dwyer Hickey: Author of The Narrow Land.

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