We are thrilled to now be working with Claire Kilroy, whose first novel in over a decade, Soldier Sailor, has been published to excellent reviews.

Soldier Sailor, published by Faber Books at the start of this month,  is a resonant and provocative novel about motherhood from the prize-winning author of The Devil I Know and Tenderwire. The Sunday Times Literary Editor Johanna Thomas-Corr called the novel “Brilliant, brutally honest, very funny. . . certainly one of the finest novels published this year.”

The Guardian has praised Soldier Sailor as “a whole body experience” and said the novel locates Kilroy “among the ranks of motherhood’s laureates alongside the likes of Helen Simpson, Rachel Cusk and Sarah Moss”. Similarily, the Irish Independent said “in this searing examination of the toll motherhood can take on a woman, Claire Kilroy joins the illustrious company of authors like Anne Enright and Elizabeth Strout.”

The Irish Times dubbed the novel “a beauty”, calling it “exceptional. . . with mordant wit and acute, astute observations”. A review in The Times called Soldier Sailor “exceptionally good… it sizzles and crackles with life”, describing the novel as “a white-knuckle ride you can’t get off – just like parenthood.”

Anthony Cummins in the Daily Mail called the novel “dark and intense, as well as richly comic”, going on to say “It’s terrifically well done – and if I had to predict what might end up on this year’s Booker longlist, I’d say place your bets”.

In a wonderful review, the Financial Times wrote:

“Soldier Sailor is a fully realised depiction of love, hate, despair and hope, conveyed in prose of mesmerising vitality, richly layered with myth and fairytale, the tragic and the comedic. Passionately rendered, searingly honest, Kilroy succeeds in articulating both the profound and commonplace reality of this mother of all rites of passage.”

Kilroy has also received praise from fellow authors for the novel. Anne Enright said it was a “scorching read”, which she “could not put down”; Sebastian Barry called it “a radiant and fearless work of universal import” and John Boyne praised it as “the most uncompromising, provocative novel I’ve read in quite some time”.

A huge congratulations to the author. We look forward to reading more about this exceptional novel.