As is the case with so many good Irish literary novels, this is poignant, breathtaking and very sad. Following three stories told in three different voices that do eventually come together, it covers the years 1901 to 1941 through the tales of Jewish Lithuathian immigrants bound for New York who inadvertently disembark in Cork (sounds like New York) in Ireland. Ruth is eight years old. The second story is Shem’s who is mute, struck so at his Bar Mitzvah. When we meet him he is eighteen. His is the saddest story of all for his life is irrevocably changed by a misinterpretation of circumstances. The third story is set today where Aisling, an Irish Catholic in love with a Jew, has a huge dilemma. Can she make the ultimate sacrifice and convert to Judaism? She is given a book by her prospective inlaws that outlines the path she must take. It belonged to another and she seeks out the original owners with much then being revealed to us, the reader. It is not an easy read but it is certainly an impressive one. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
At the start of the twentieth century, a young girl and her family emigrate from the continent in search of a better life in America, only to pitch up in Ireland by mistake. In 1958, a mute boy locked away in a mental institution outside of Dublin forms an unlikely friendship with a man consumed by the story of the love he lost nearly two decades earlier. And in present-day London, an Irish journalist is forced to confront her conflicting notions of identity and family when her Jewish boyfriend asks her to make a true leap of faith. Spanning generations and braiding together three unforgettable voices, Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan shows us what it means to belong, and how storytelling can redeem us all.
'Reminiscent of Tea Obreht, Nicole Krauss and Maggie O'Farrell... Wonderful' Colum McCann
'Graceful, confident, vivid... I loved this beautifully written novel Joseph O'Connor A rich and layered story of the complications, the mistakes and the heartbreaks of which a human life is made... I haven't read anything like it' Belinda McKeon
'Immensely readable and written with great flair Irish Independent Brimming with concepts and yarns' Irish Times
'Rich in plot and full of characters that have been neglected by Irish literature' Guardian
Author
About Ruth Gilligan
Ruth Gilligan is an Irish novelist and journalist. She has written three previous novels: Forget, which reached number one on the Irish Bestsellers' List when she was 19, making her the youngest person in Ireland ever to have done so, and Somewhere In Between and Can You See Me, both published while she was still at university. She writes and reviews for the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the TLS and the Guardian.
