A Ghost In The Throat Synopsis
Winner of the James Tait Black Prize for Biography
A true original. In this stunningly unusual prose debut, Doireann Ni Ghriofa sculpts essay and autofiction to explore inner life and the deep connection felt between two writers centuries apart.
In the 1700s, an Irish noblewoman, on discovering her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his blood and composes an extraordinary poem.
In the present day, a young mother narrowly avoids tragedy. On encountering the poem, she becomes obsessed with its parallels with her own life, and sets out to track down the rest of the story. A devastating and timeless tale about one woman freeing her voice by reaching into the past and finding another's.
About This Edition
Doireann Ní Ghríofa Press Reviews
THE TIMES
'Dazzles readers from the get-go... A contender for book of the year'
NEW STATESMAN 'It's an alien and disconcerting experience: it results in a book that takes you and shakes... Electrifying'
IRISH INDEPENDENT
'A book like this comes along once every few years and obliterates every clear definition of genre and form. I mean no exaggeration here: A Ghost in the Throat is astounding and utterly fresh.'
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
'With luminous language and candid details, this book shimmers with honesty and scholarship. A truly original read.'
IRISH TIMES
'A truly unique project that comes alive on the page.'
SUNDAY TIMES
'Billed as a genre-busting blend of 'autofiction, essay, scholarship, sleuthing and literary translation', the book is an extraordinary feat of ventriloquism delivered in a lush, lyrical prose that dazzles readers from the get-go. The book's triumph rests on several factors: the translation project is admirable; the authorial voice is empathetic; the treatment of issues that may not reflect well on the author are delivered with honesty; and, above all, the language is sumptuous, almost symphonic, in its intensity. When you write like this there is almost nothing a writer cannot get away with... One of the best books of this dreadful year.'
SUNDAY BUSINESS POST
'A masterpiece on motherhood...I grieved when I closed this book, and found the only remedy was to turn back to the first page, and begin this masterpiece over again'
IRISH EXAMINER
'A raw and haunting read that lingers long in the mind.
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RTE Culture
'An extraordinary piece of work'.
NEW YORK TIMES. 'A powerful, bewitching blend of memoir and literary investigation'
THE CHICAGO REVIEW
'Ni Ghriofa's essayistic and intimate style recalls the inter-disciplinary perambulations of W.G. Sebald and the uncompromising feminism of Maggie Nelson'
SEVERINE
'It is brilliantly written, Ni Ghriofa's reputation as a poet paving the way for such staggeringly sonic, rolling prose. And it is a feminist exclamation mark, imploring from the beginning:
Join in , Ni Ghriofa insists'
