FINALIST for the WOMEN'S PRIZE for FICTION * One of Vogue's Best Books of the Year
Award-winning author Claire Kilroy's "lyrical and incisive" (The New York Times Book Review) novel that reads with the pace of a thriller and is filled with astute and witty observations of life with a young child.
Soldier Sailor takes readers deep inside the early days of motherhood. Exploring the clash of fierce love with a seismic shift in identity, Claire Kilroy conjures the raw, tumultuous emotions of a new mother, as her marriage strains and she struggles with questions of equality, autonomy, and creativity.
Soldier Sailor is a tale of boundless love and relentless battle, a bedtime story to a son, Sailor, recounting their early years together. Spending her days in baby groups, playgrounds, and supermarkets, Soldier doesn't know who she is anymore. She hardly sees her husband, who has taken to working late most nights. A chance encounter with a former colleague feels like a lifeline to the person she used to be but can hardly remember.
Tender and harrowing, Kilroy's modern masterpiece "hums with poetry, insight, and humor...full of truths so sharp and beautiful readers will need to take a breath" (Booklist, starred review). Claire Kilroy is the author of five novels including Soldier Sailor, All Summer, Tenderwire, and The Devil I Know. She was awarded the Rooney Prize in 2004 and has been shortlisted for many other prizes, including the Irish Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. She studied at Trinity College and lives in Dublin. "Simone Collins's narration benefits from her intimate and persuasive tone, as well as the lovely lilt of her Irish accent. Her performance resonates as her tone, pace, and intonation reveal the struggling mom's love...This brief, powerful depiction of motherhood rings true and creates an immersive listening experience."
