Awards

• Short-listed for Irish Book Awards - Newcomer of the Year 2025 (Ireland)
• Short-listed for Irish Book Awards - Newcomer of the Year 2025 (UK)

Overview

AN IRISH TIMES DEBUT AUTHOR TO LOOK OUT FOR 2025 'Beautifully written' LOUISE KENNEDY 'Full of verve and wit and humanity' MARY COSTELLO 'Clever and original' TLS 'A tremendous new talent' KEVIN BARRY Mairéad works tirelessly in a run-down West End theatre's wardrobe department - mending shoes, fixing broken zips and even handwashing underwear. She must also sidestep groping hands backstage and withstand the relentless bullying of the show's producer. The job was meant to be the first step towards the life Mairéad has always wanted, and yet half of her remains back home in Ireland, along with everything she abandoned there. A reckoning with the past is coming and, with it, the need to forge a new present - one stitch at a time.

Full Product Details

9781837261031

Table of Contents

Reviews

Astutely observed and beautifully written. I rooted for Mairéad all the way to the end of this impressive debut -- LOUISE KENNEDY Elaine Garvey is a tremendous new talent in Irish writing - I'm certain the reader will recognise inside half a page that she's the real thing -- KEVIN BARRY The Wardrobe Department is at once familiar and surprising, knotty and tender, tough and beguiling, and its author a sure hand with a light touch . . . Garvey [is] one of those enviable writers whose piercing eye for human contradiction and self-sabotage never dims her affection for the souls she's so beautifully painted -- LISA McINERNEY A truly beautiful novel. Mairéad is an unforgettable character, revealed in tender, sharp, emotional prose. Garvey's sentences form a delicate pattern, the structure flawless, drawing the reader into the hidden world of London theatre and rural Ireland through complex relationships that question what it means to belong. The Wardrobe Department is that rare thing, already a classic. Garvey is an exquisite talent -- OLIVIA FITZSIMONS The Wardrobe Department . . . will deservedly be one of next spring's most fashionable titles. Set in the beautifully realised world of a London theatre's costume department, with an interlude in the west of Ireland, its protagonist Mairéad is someone to believe in -- MARTIN DOYLE The Wardrobe Department is full of verve and wit and humanity. In writing that is sharp and sassy, Garvey captures perfectly the complexities and heartbreak of a young woman's life and the great pull and push of home -- MARY COSTELLO The Wardrobe Department is so beautiful. London theatre and rural Ireland . . . Elaine Garvey has created two exquisitely drawn worlds that I know so well and brought them to life through the eyes of a young woman who could be my best friend. I love this book. Will read it again and again and again -- DENISE GOUGH A gift of a novel. I felt relieved after reading it, like I had been hungry for some elusive feeling, and finally found something that hit the spot. There are sentences in this book that will keep me going for a long time -- LOUISE NEALON From fine stitches to generational patterns, this book is a deft and graceful exploration of the roles we play - and the cost of breaking free -- SHEILA ARMSTRONG Delicate and fierce, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful. An astoundingly good novel. The writing is as sharp and sure as a dress-maker's scissors -- DANIELLE McLAUGHLIN

Astutely observed and beautifully written. I rooted for Mairéad all the way to the end of this impressive debut -- LOUISE KENNEDY Elaine Garvey is a tremendous new talent in Irish writing - I'm certain the reader will recognise inside half a page that she's the real thing -- KEVIN BARRY The Wardrobe Department is at once familiar and surprising, knotty and tender, tough and beguiling, and its author a sure hand with a light touch . . . Garvey [is] one of those enviable writers whose piercing eye for human contradiction and self-sabotage never dims her affection for the souls she's so beautifully painted -- LISA McINERNEY Clever and original * * Times Literary Supplement * * Refreshing . . . Garvey excels is placing her heroine in the heart of a busy home, surrounded by people she's known since childhood, but among whom she feels utterly alone . . . Timely . . . Witty -- JOHN BOYNE * * Irish Independent * * A truly beautiful novel. Mairéad is an unforgettable character, revealed in tender, sharp, emotional prose. Garvey's sentences form a delicate pattern, the structure flawless, drawing the reader into the hidden world of London theatre and rural Ireland through complex relationships that question what it means to belong. The Wardrobe Department is that rare thing, already a classic. Garvey is an exquisite talent -- OLIVIA FITZSIMONS The Wardrobe Department . . . will deservedly be one of next spring's most fashionable titles. Set in the beautifully realised world of a London theatre's costume department, with an interlude in the west of Ireland, its protagonist Mairéad is someone to believe in -- MARTIN DOYLE Whether she's detailing the drama of an Irish funeral or the panic of a backstage emergency, Garvey's control of tone and voice is faultless * * Financial Times * * The Wardrobe Department is full of verve and wit and humanity. In writing that is sharp and sassy, Garvey captures perfectly the complexities and heartbreak of a young woman's life and the great pull and push of home -- MARY COSTELLO Very well done . . . Elaine Garvey . . . is especially good at dialogue, with a witty, often biting turn of phrase * * Irish Examiner * *

Author Information

Elaine Garvey is from Co. Sligo, Ireland. She completed an M.Phil. in Creative Writing in Trinity College, Dublin in 2000. Her short stories have been published in the Dublin Review and Winter Papers. She has worked as a programme co-ordinator at the Stinging Fly, was awarded an agility grant for her writing and has recently been selected as a participant on a basic income scheme for artists by the Irish Department of Arts. The Wardrobe Department is her first novel.

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