Newly widowed, Martha Cassidy has returned to a remote cottage in a virtually abandoned village on the west coast of Ireland for reasons even she is uncertain of. Looking out her window towards the dramatic rise of the Skellig Islands across the water, Martha recalls the losses in her life: Brendan, her itinerant husband and charming curator, and her ten-year-old son, Bruno, who met an untimely death twenty years earlier. Alone on the windswept headland, surrounded by miles of cold sea, the past closes in.
As the days unfold, she finds herself drawn into a standoff between the entrepreneur Eugene Riorden and local hill farmer Paddy O’Connell. As the tension between them builds to a crisis that leaves Paddy in hospital, Martha develops a relationship with Colm, a talented but much younger musician and poet – roughly the same age that Bruno would have been if he’d lived. Caught between its history and its future, the Celtic Tiger reels with change, and Martha faces choices that will change her life forever.
Rainsongs conjures the rugged beauty of County Kerry’s coastline and the inner landscapes of its characters in richly poetic and painterly language, moving effortlessly between the lives of people and the life of the terrain; between the forces that shape character and those that shape the world. It unfolds as a compelling tale of grief, art, and the fragile, quiet ways in which time and place can offer a measure of redemption.
‘For her keen and gracious insights into the relentless grieving process, for her transcendent evocation of the rough charm and enduring splendor of Ireland’s rural treasures, Hubbard deserves a place in the literary pantheon near Colm Tóibín, Anne Enright, and William Trevor.’
Carol Haggas, American LIbrary Associaion Booklist
‘A compelling story, freighted with heartbreak and loss’
Shena Mackay
‘A beautifully-written and evocative novel about grief and greed, art and life, isolation and emotion’
Amanda Craig
‘A lyrical evocation of Ireland’s fragile, ancient coastline reveals a poet’s sensibility. This multi- layered story of love and loss, of a woman ‘erased by grief’, who finds solace in the heart of a community that is threatened from within, is exceptionally moving. This book will stay with you.’
Eleanor Fitzsimons
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‘Woolfian echoes and quotations pulse through Rainsongs, haunting the reader with the ubiquity of mother love and longing.’
The Guardian
‘Hubbard’s precise descriptions of the physical landscape are tremendous and moving. Her knowledge of Irish history and culture is impressive.’
The Irish Times
Un récit sensible et sombre, troué de lumière et réchauffé par la poésie minimaliste que dégage la langue de Sue Hubbard.
Gaspard Iris, Télé Z
Reviews
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The London Magazine
Daily Mail
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Irish Independent
Shiny New Books
The Irish Times
The Irish Times
Library Thing
Book Marks – collected reviews for Rainsongs
Reviews in French
Charlotte Parlotte
Les Echos
Librairie Bruneteaux
Translations of French reviews
Un ciel si vaste de Sue Hubbard on Checkabook:
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Sue Hubbard talks about the inspiration behind her novel Rainsongs:
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Sue Hubbard interviewed about Rainsongs:Sue Hubbard discusses Rainsongs:
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Sue Hubbard Rainsongs interview: Wombwell Rainbow
Publication details
UK edition
2018
Duckworth
242 pages
ISBN: 9780715652855
US edition
2018
Overlook Press
240 pages
ISBN: 9781468316636
French edition (Le Chant de la Pluie)
2018
Mercure de France
288 pages
ISBN: 9782715250765
Chinese edition
2020
Yilin Press