ISBN As You Were book General novel English 320 pages

Discover this unforgettable, darkly funny novel about the power of friendship and the heartbreak of family life - shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021.

'AMAZING' Marian Keyes'BEAUTIFUL' Douglas Stuart'FABULOUS' Kevin Barry'THRILLING' Nicole Flattery

Sinéad Hynes is a tough, driven, funny young property developer with a terrifying secret.

No-one knows it: not her fellow patients in a failing hospital, and certainly not her family. She has confided only in Google and a shiny magpie.

But she can't go on like this, tirelessly trying to outstrip her past and in mortal fear of her future. Across the ward, Margaret Rose is running her chaotic family from her rose-gold Nokia. In the neighbouring bed, Jane, rarely but piercingly lucid, is searching for a decent bra and for someone to listen. Sinéad needs them both.

As You Were is about intimate histories, institutional failures, the kindness of strangers, and the darkly present past of modern Ireland. It is about women's stories and women's struggles. It is about seizing the moment to be free.

An Evening Standard, Observer and Daily Telegraph Book of the YearAn Observer Best Debut 2020Winner of the Kate O'Brien Award 2021Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year 2020