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The Raptures

‘Original and exciting, terrifying and hilarious’ Sunday Times Ireland

Jan Carson

$24.99

Paperback

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English
Penguin (Transworld)
12 February 2023
The highly inventive and deeply moving new novel from the award-winning author- when several children from the same village succumb to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences.

When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences.

'Absolutely MAGNIFICENT- dark, witty, charming. I LOVED it.' MARIAN KEYES

'Utterly absorbing' LISA MCINERNEY

'Heart-rending, hilarious . . . it's a belter' LOUISE KENNEDY

'Blistering...glorious...written from the guts and from the heart.' LUCY CALDWELL

'An original and exciting work that's equal parts terrifying, hilarious and memorable.' SUNDAY TIMES

It is late June in Ballylack. Hannah Adger anticipates eight long weeks' reprieve from school, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other.

As others fall ill, questions about what - or who - is responsible pitch the village into conflict and fearful disarray. Hannah is haunted by guilt as she remains healthy while her friends are struck down. Isolated and afraid, she prays for help.

Elsewhere in the village, tempers simmer, panic escalates and long-buried secrets threaten to emerge.

Bursting with Carson's trademark wit, profound empathy and soaring imagination, The Raptures explores how tragedy can unite a small community - and tear it apart. At its heart is the extraordinary resilience of one young girl. As the world crumbles around her, she must find the courage to be different in a place where conforming feels like the only option available.

Darkly funny, highly inventive and deeply moving, The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022.
By:  
Imprint:   Penguin (Transworld)
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 199mm,  Width: 129mm,  Spine: 21mm
Weight:   236g
ISBN:   9781804990841
ISBN 10:   1804990841
Pages:   336
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Jan Carson is a writer based in Belfast. Her first novel, Malcolm Orange Disappears, was published in 2014 to critical acclaim, followed by a short-story collection, Children's Children (2016), and two flash fiction anthologies, Postcard Stories (2017) and Postcard Stories 2 (2020). Her second novel, The Fire Starters (2019), won the EU Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award and her third novel, The Raptures (2022) was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Novel of the Year. Her most recent short story collection, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses, was published in 2024. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. She has won the Harper's Bazaar short-story competition and has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, the An Post Irish Short Story of the Year, and the Sean Faolain Short Story Prize.

Reviews for The Raptures: ‘Original and exciting, terrifying and hilarious’ Sunday Times Ireland

Absolutely MAGNIFICENT: dark, witty, charming. I LOVED it * MARIAN KEYES * Heart-rending, hilarious . . . It's a belter. * LOUISE KENNEDY * An Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit, a dark supernatural mystery and an account of mass trauma. Carson forges these parts into a tragicomedy in which fantastic elements slot almost seamlessly alongside kitchen-sink realism...compassionate and meticulously observed.' * GUARDIAN * Original and vivid, The Raptures is its own beautiful, unique thing * IRISH TIMES * The book's beauty comes from its hilarious depiction of claustrophobic small-town life * Sunday Times *


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