Darkly moving and beautifully written, Bernie McGill’s debut collection of short stories explores the lives of women across the generations. From the storm-battered coastline of the north of Ireland to the sleeping villas of Andalusia, McGill’s characters grapple with the consequences of affairs, bereavement, alcoholism, illness and murder.

Compassionate and quietly powerful, McGill’s stories capture intimate moments of loss, love, and healing in a troubled age.
Bernie McGill is the acclaimed author of The Butterfly Cabinet, The Watch House and This Train is For, winner of the 2023 Edge Hill Prize.
Originally shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and now including Waiting for Joseph, a BBC Radio 4 Short Works story.

‘Bernie McGill is one of Ireland’s great storytellers’ Ian Sansom
These stories are bursting with emotional life, whether the dark swirl of grief to the most potent sensuality. Women deftly navigate their self-definition against the violent past and the hopeful future. McGill’s stories echo what the narrator of ‘Islander’ imagines her unborn child is telling her: “We carry the living, and we do whatever it takes to wake the dead.”
Caroline Magennis
Irish Times