Overview

'A wonderfully stylish writer with an unwavering eye' JOHN PATRICK McHUGH 'Perfectly calibrated . . . These characters spike off the page' A. K. BLAKEMORE How do you mourn someone you never really knew? Three siblings – Anna, Gemma and Matthew – will have to work that out quickly. Monday is the day of their gentle, but distant, father’s funeral, and for the first time in a long while they are under one roof with their mother, imperious Yvonne, awaiting the arrival of their aunt Amy, an award-winning poet. Yet, as the funeral looms, their everyday concerns refuse to diminish: will newly sex-obsessed Gemma work out what she wants from life, beyond her mother’s expectations? Can Anna maintain the fine balance between desire and nonchalance with her not-quite-exclusive boyfriend back in London? Will Amy’s past explode the relationships of the present? And, crucially, will Yvonne pull off her grand, post-funeral family dinner, the solution to what she fears may be an unsolvable problem? Told from five perspectives, into the wreck worries at the knotty complexities of one family’s bonds, written with Susannah Dickey’s trademark empathy and wit. A rare talent, and certainly one to watch' SUNDAY TIMES 'One of literature's major new talents' OBSERVER 'One of the funniest and most insightful novelists writing today' NELL FRIZZELL

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9781526692054

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Reviews

into the wreck is an intriguing, witty, moving and complex interrogation of modern Irish history, family, messy grief, and indomitable connections. Dickey is a wonderfully stylish writer with an unwavering eye for the truths of relationships: however squalid or sweet these truths may in fact be -- JOHN PATRICK McHUGH, author of Fun and Games I absolutely gulped down into the wreck. Dickey’s prose, as ever, is perfectly calibrated. I can’t think of a contemporary writer who tackles modern relationships with fiercer wit and greater wisdom – these characters spike off the page -- A. K. BLAKEMORE, Desmond Elliot Prize-winning author of The Glutton In this wonderful novel, the narrators complicate one another as they share their interiority and personal struggles to know the people they love . . . Susannah Dickey creates a rich, sensitive and vivid portrait of a family keening to understand each other and themselves -- AMY KEY, author of Arrangements in Blue into the wreck is a haunting masterpiece that captures the quiet and deadly drama of everyday family life. Set against the shadows of the North, we are immersed into what forms a family, what holds it together and how the ordinary becomes epic. into the wreck is a meditation on intimacy and endurance. Dickey’s storytelling is both forensic and tender — and she has a rare gift for illuminating the beauty in the banal. The novel feels simultaneously grounded in the present and touched by something otherworldly. Utterly original, compelling, sardonic, brutal, visceral and emotionally devastating, this is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year -- ELAINE FEENEY, Booker Prize-longlisted author of How to Build a Boat Perfectly judged . . . A surprising, clever, sad and strange book which I am still thinking about long after finishing - and yet such a propulsive joy to read too -- MEGAN NOLAN, on Common Decency Her turn of phrase, ear for dialogue, wry humour and power of observation are masterful -- NELL FRIZZELL, on Common Decency

I absolutely gulped down into the wreck. Dickey’s prose, as ever, is perfectly calibrated. I can’t think of a contemporary writer who tackles modern relationships with fiercer wit and greater wisdom – these characters spike off the page -- A. K. BLAKEMORE, author of The Glutton Perfectly judged . . . A surprising, clever, sad and strange book which I am still thinking about long after finishing - and yet such a propulsive joy to read too -- MEGAN NOLAN, on Common Decency Her turn of phrase, ear for dialogue, wry humour and power of observation are masterful -- NELL FRIZZELL, on Common Decency

Perfectly judged . . . A surprising, clever, sad and strange book which I am still thinking about long after finishing - and yet such a propulsive joy to read too -- MEGAN NOLAN, on Common Decency Her turn of phrase, ear for dialogue, wry humour and power of observation are masterful -- NELL FRIZZELL, on Common Decency

I absolutely gulped down into the wreck. Dickey’s prose, as ever, is perfectly calibrated. I can’t think of a contemporary writer who tackles modern relationships with fiercer wit and greater wisdom – these characters spike off the page -- A. K. BLAKEMORE, author of The Glutton into the wreck is a haunting masterpiece that captures the quiet and deadly drama of everyday family life. Set against the shadows of the North, we are immersed into what forms a family, what holds it together and how the ordinary becomes epic. into the wreck is a meditation on intimacy and endurance. Dickey’s storytelling is both forensic and tender — and she has a rare gift for illuminating the beauty in the banal. The novel feels simultaneously grounded in the present and touched by something otherworldly. Utterly original, compelling, sardonic, brutal, visceral and emotionally devastating, this is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year -- ELAINE FEENEY, author of How to Build a Boat Perfectly judged . . . A surprising, clever, sad and strange book which I am still thinking about long after finishing - and yet such a propulsive joy to read too -- MEGAN NOLAN, on Common Decency Her turn of phrase, ear for dialogue, wry humour and power of observation are masterful -- NELL FRIZZELL, on Common Decency

Author Information

Susannah Dickey is a writer from Derry. She is the author of two novels, Tennis Lessons (2020) and Common Decency (2022), which was an Irish Waterstones Book of the Month. Her debut poetry collection, ISDAL, was a Guardian and Irish Times Book of the Year, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the John Pollard Prize, and won the inaugural PEN Heaney Prize. She lives in Belfast.

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