A powerful novel, by one of Ireland's preeminent writers, of two damaged people and their fateful, restorative friendship For Laurence, trauma came in the form of a random act of violence that claimed his wife and daughter a decade ago. For Clara, it was something she has kept hidden, confined to her own memory and unknown to those closest to her. By chance, they meet atop a cliff overlooking Dublin Bay, where Laurence finds Clara standing uncomfortably close to the edge. Days later they encounter each other again, this time at a pub, and begin a tentative friendship rooted in their kindred heartbreak. Through conversations at once witty, somber, and cuttingly honest, they find a soothing sense of connection and respite from their own lonely grieving. Poignant and engrossing, The Gingerbread Woman is a stirring novel of love and mourning, and of the unlikely friendship that leads two broken people toward a renewed sense of hope.
"A beautifully paced novel of solitariness . . . This is a book to steal for your friends and re-read your own copy for pleasure."
The Herald
"She writes with considerable acuity and understanding."
The Sunday Times
"Probably the most consistently undercelebrated of Irish writers, her genius lies in her calm, intelligence and her distinctive feel for the way an individual will act in an extreme emotional crisis."
