Please join us to celebrate the launch of Patrick Holloway’s debut novel, The Language of Remembering, published by Epoque Press. Patrick will be introduced by local author Wendy Erskine. Book your free ticket here.

About The Language of Remembering:

Returning from Brazil with his wife and daughter, Oisín is looking to rebuild a life in Ireland and reconnect with his mother, Brigid, who has early onset Alzheimer’s. As her condition deteriorates, she starts to speak Irish, the language of her youth, and reflect on her childhood dreams and aspirations.

Mother and son embark on a journey of personal discovery and, as past traumas are exposed, they begin to understand what has shaped them – and who they really are.

The Language of Remembering asks how we connect to the people we love and how we move on from the past to find meaning in the present.

‘Holloway is a rare and immense talent. The Language of Remembering is full of the grit and texture and sweetness of life, the sorrow of loss, the wonderful, terrible mystery of our humanity. The characters feel real, their voices sing from the page and the writing is sublime. I loved every line of this novel, readers are going to love it too – it will soar.’ Donal Ryan

‘You can hear him a little way away but in each direction he is not there. You keep walking and in a clearing he is sitting on a bench waiting for you. You walk to him but never seem to get any closer. His arms reach out for you. He looks up and you follow his gaze and the sky, greyed by clouds, is full of little finches, golden and maple and autumn-leaved, and they fly so beautifully and freely.’

‘In a profoundly moving tale, Holloway brings us close to real, earthy, honest, human beings whose experience comes from several languages and who live through the day-to-day minutiae of both past and present. The prose is exquisite, energetic and exciting. One of the most beautiful books you will read this year.’ Mary O’Donnell

About the author:

Patrick Holloway is an Irish writer of fiction and poetry and is an editor of the literary journal, The Four Faced Liar. He is the winner of the Bath Short Story Award, The Molly Keane Creative Writing Prize, The Flash 500 Prize, the Allingham Fiction contest and he was the recipient of the Paul McVeigh Residency in 2023. His work appears in The Stinging Fly, The London Magazine, Poetry Ireland, The Moth, Southword, The Ilanot Review, Carve, The Irish Times and The Irish Independent. The Language of Remembering is Patrick’s debut novel.