Overview
Exquisitely written and profoundly moving-the new literary novel from an award-winning Irish author. 'An exceptional, compulsive novel of love, loss and courage. SINEAD GLEESON 'Mary Costello is a writer of rare and exquisite sensitivity' PAUL LYNCH 'One of our foremost women writers' GUARDIAN This is Anna's story. In Dublin in 1985, nineteen-year-old Anna Hughes is in thrall to Peter Gallagher, an older, worldly man. Anna is introverted and naive, and Peter's experience, wide circle of friends and thirst for adventure captivate her. Her obsessive longing for him leads to marriage and, eventually, a crushing betrayal. When Anna meets a kind-hearted Algerian man, she finds herself falling in love with him. Life with Karim offers stability and renewed hope and, slowly, Anna begins to uncover deeper layers of herself. Unfolding over twenty-five years, this is a profound novel about the loss of innocence, the price of love, and the cost of seeking salvation in others. With her exquisite insight, Mary Costello tells a piercing story about longing, intimacy and the unpredictable road to discovery of the self. 'Brings to mind the elegance of Colm T ibin and the insight of Alice Munro.' MAGGIE O'FARRELL 'an intensely moving and exquisitely-written novel' LUCY CALDWELL 'A Beautiful Loan is like a beautiful piece of music- true, pure, profound. ' CLAIRE MESSUD 'Grounded, fully charged and realistic.' SATURDAY PAPER 'Mary Costello has a genius for taking ordinary, unheralded lives and discovering within them the disquiet, the disillusionment, concealed just below the surface.' AUSTRALIAN
Full Product Details
Author: Mary Costello
Publisher: Text Publishing
Imprint: The Text Publishing Company
Dimensions:
Width: 15.40cm
, Height: 1.70cm
, Length: 23.30cm
Weight: 0.284kg
ISBN: 9781923058286
ISBN 10: 1923058282
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 24 March 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
‘Costello is a writer of rare and exquisite sensitivity – intimate, piercing, death-haunted – with sentences that can turn on a pin into vastness.’ * Paul Lynch * ‘Brings to mind the elegance of Colm Tóibín and the insight of Alice Munro.’ * Maggie O’Farrell * ‘Mary Costello has a genius for taking ordinary, unheralded lives and discovering within them the disquiet, the disillusionment, concealed just below the surface.’ * Australian * 'Costello's writing has the kind of urgency that the great problems demand.' * Anne Enright *
Author Information
Mary Costello's short story collection, The China Factory, was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award and shortlisted for an Irish Book Award. Her first novel, Academy Street, won the Irish Novel of the Year Award and was named overall Irish Book of the Year in 2014. The River Capture, her second novel, was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Awards and the Dalkey Book Awards. Mary Costello lives in Galway.
