Award-winning novelist Maggie O’Farrell returns with her latest breathtaking novel. This Must Be The Place is a story about journeys, it’s about discovering who you are and where you’re meant to be. Daniel Sullivan is leaving on a journey, he is leaving his shotgun-toting, recluse of a wife and his two young children behind in Ireland as he flies to America to celebrate his estranged father’s birthday. Yet anyone can be easily thrown off course, especially when the past creeps in and misty, murky memories begin to haunt Daniel. After so many years it is now time to face his past but just what will it cost him? Will life ever be the same and will he ever be able to return home to Ireland?
I can’t remember exactly when I first discovered the writing of Maggie O’Farrell, I do however remember the book. The Hand That First Held Mine. It was by no means her first novel but for me it was the discovery of something very special. O’Farrell’s writing is exquisite. Her characters are brought to life through her wonderful prose and you can feel their living, breathing presence as you read. Her stories will haunt you and in some small, subtle way you’ll never be quite the same again.
Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2016.
Shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Fiction Award 2016.
Costa judges' comment: “An utterly involving read, both funny and heartbreaking – technically dazzling, but never losing its human touch.”
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
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Closing date: 04/07/2026
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE crosses time zones and continents to reveal an extraordinary portrait of a marriage. Meet Daniel Sullivan, a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn and a wife, Claudette, who is a reclusive ex-film star given to shooting at anyone who ventures up their driveway. He is also about to find out something about a woman he lost touch with twenty years ago, and this discovery will send him off-course, far away from wife and home. Will his love for Claudette be enough to bring him back?
This Must be the Place features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Family Drama, Books of the Month, eBooks of the Month, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
This Must be the Place is available in Paperback, Ebook, Hardback
This Must be the Place was written by Maggie O'Farrell and published by Tinder Press an imprint of Headline Publishing Group
This Must be the Place has 486 pages