The bestselling Irish debut novel – a multigenerational portrait of small-town life bursting with caustic wit – for fans of Jon McGregor, Elizabeth Strout and Paul Murray
Ballyrowan is a sleepy corner of rural Ireland where nothing ever happens. Where everyone knows everyone else’s business, and everyone has an opinion on it. Where family feuds simmer and intensify across the generations. Where young and old delight in dragging each other down like crabs in a barrel.
Following the fortunes of this small community from the mid-20th century to the early 21st, Mouthing is a bittersweet love letter to the pleasures (and frustrations) of village life.
Review: Engrossing, acerbic and brilliant. Everyone here has a tale to tell… There is a pub and there is a priest. There are secrets and lies. It is by turns funny, horrifying, and all too real… Mackey’s structure requires the reader to constantly reassess their opinions of the characters. It is a fascinating magic trick, shimmering with fractal richness… Again and again we meet a character, form an opinion, and almost immediately have that wittily torpedoed * The Irish Times *
A compelling and highly entertaining read; it is a brilliant debut . . . The more people you get to know, the more compelling the novel becomes . . . The interlinked stories are like an addictive soap opera, and you never want them to end . . . Mackey observes the small community with affection and writes about them with real insight and a finely honed wit * Irish Examiner *
A bittersweet love letter to small-town Irish life over several generations, a polyvocal mosaic in the vein of Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge * Irish Times, ‘Everything Books in 2024’ *
A hotbed of gossip and intrigue, the novel is narrated in a dark, humorous and confessional style by several generations of villagers, from the mid-20th century to the early 21st . . . Anyone with experience of a small town will be drawn to this * Journal.ie *
A startling debut . . . The world Mackey pitches her readers into is hilarious, heartbreaking and oh-so-familiar to anyone who grew up in a small community. No character is straightforward here and each voices their story in a unique and compelling way * Irish Times, ‘The best books of 2024 so far’ *
Intimate and panoramic, a raucous gathering of voices: full of humour, pierced with longing, caught between connection and claustrophobia. Compassionate but clear-eyed, angry and elegiac, Mouthing is a portrait of our confused and often destructive yearning for grace — Colin Walsh, author of ‘Kala’
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication date: 15/07/2025
