A true story of madness, addiction, and a sister's quest for her lost brother When Molly McCloskey was a young girl, her brother Mike - fourteen years her senior - started showing signs of paranoid schizophrenia. By the time Molly was old enough to begin to know him, he was frequently delusional, heavily medicated, living in hospitals or care homes or on the road. In Circles around the Sun, she tells Mike's story - which is also the story of her own demons and of how a seemingly perfect family slowly fell apart and, in the end, regrouped. It is a work of extraordinary intensity and drama from a wonderfully gifted writer. 'Every once in a while, a writer's voice hits such a clear note, the resulting book has the kind of sweetness that makes you hold it in your hands a moment before finding a place for it on your shelves. Circles Around the Sun is this kind of book: it's a keeper. A memoir of a schizophrenic brother, written with great care and simplicity, it is one of those stories that waited until its writer was ready to tell it.' Anne Enright, Guardian 'Brilliant, at times heartbreaking ... A remarkably courageous memoir that is as strange and rich as any fiction' Irish Times 'Devastating, beautifully written ... feels like one of those books the author simply had to get written' Dazed &amp; Confused 'Her prose is tender, sometimes dreamlike, and yet rigorously truthful' Justine McCarthy, Sunday Times 'Brilliant ... Circles around the Sun is an extraordinary accounting of singular sorrows and no uncertain triumphs that should resonate for every reader with a family of their own' Irish Times 'There is a rare, uplifting honesty about this heartbreaking story' Irish Independent

Circles Around the Sun

Biographies & Memoirs

McCloskey, Molly

Memoirs

Penguin Ireland

'There are few things on earth smaller than this country.' Alice, a young American on her travels, arrives in the West of Ireland with no plans and no strong attachments - except to her beloved mother, who raised her on her own. She falls in love with an Irishman, marries him, and settles down in a place whose codes she struggles to crack. And then, in the course of a single hot summer, she embarks on an affair that breaks her marriage and sets her life on a new course. After years working in war zones around the world, and in the immediate aftermath of her mother's death, Alice finds herself back in Ireland and contemplating the forces that led her to put down roots and then tear them up again. What drew her to her husband, and what pulled her away? Was her husband strangely complicit in the affair? Was she always under surveillance by friends and neighbours who knew more than they let on? When Light is Like Water is at once a gripping story of passion and ambivalence and a profound meditation on the things that matter most: the definition of love, the value of family and the meaning of home.

When Light is Like Water

Literature & Fiction

Literary

Penguin Uk

'It is brilliant: her finest book yet' Anne Enright 'A triumph' Joseph O'Connor 'Fresh and raw and completely entrancing' Sara Baume 'Powerful' Edmund White Alice, a young American on her travels, arrives in the West of Ireland with no plans and no strong attachments - except to her beloved mother, who raised her on her own. She falls in love with an Irishman, marries him, and settles down in a place whose codes she struggles to crack. And then, in the course of a single hot summer, she embarks on an affair that breaks her marriage and sets her life on a new course. After years working in war zones around the world, and in the immediate aftermath of her mother's death, Alice finds herself back in Ireland and contemplating the forces that led her to put down roots and then tear them up again. What drew her to her husband, and what pulled her away? Was her husband strangely complicit in the affair? Was she always under surveillance by friends and neighbours who knew more than they let on? When Light is Like Water is at once a gripping story of passion and ambivalence and a profound meditation on the things that matter most: the definition of love, the value of family and the meaning of home. 'Adultery is often sentimentalised in fiction, but in her ferociously well written second novel Molly McCloskey gives it to us straight ... Each brilliant vignette offers a new angle on Alice's ballooning sense of disorientation ... In spite of its lyrical title and exquisite prose, When Light Is Like Water is a brutal examination of sexual self-delusion. But it also has much that's memorable to say about love - not the affair kind, but the real thing... McCloskey writes with shattering insight on loss and the way that it can make us feel tender towards the world' Guardian 'Powerful ... When Light Is Like Water is a tender depiction of love and loss that combines the personal pull of a memoir with the precision of a short story ... McCloskey's novel is packed with wisdom, and never heavy-handed with it. The details of the affair and the tawdry aspect of forbidden desire are brilliantly related' Sunday Times 'Written with brilliant precision and insight' Sunday Business Post Books of the Year 'McCloskey describes everything with a luminous exactitude ... It's entirely beguiling' Mail on Sunday 'A thoughtful meditation on connection set against the backdrop of a world on the move ... Though McCloskey has no shortage of ideas, she also engages the heart: she's particularly good on the contrariness of our desires ... Fans of Anne Enright will find much to admire and enjoy.' Daily Mail 'Luminous' Irish Times 'McCloskey has the observational eye of the outsider, able to pinpoint the intricacies and mannerisms of the Irish people and landscape. ... But the writing's the thing. Oh, the writing. McCloskey is the master of the metaphor, the doyenne of the deceptively simple sentence. ... Hers is a wondrous turn of phrase, and yet somehow it makes Alice's life and interiority seem all the more real' Sunday Business Post 'A delightful fish-out-of-water account stitched together with gentle yet wondrous prose' Irish Independent Books of the Year 'When Light is Like Water is as gripping as a memoir and as intimate as a poem. Molly McCloskey has written a novel that is both urgent and reflective, a tender and unsentimental exploration of love's dark corners. It is brilliant: her finest book yet.' Anne Enright 'Molly McCloskey's prose has such immense authority, precision and seriousness. This shimmering, beautiful,restless work will stir recognitions without seeming to try. If you've ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with - as who hasn't, once or twice - be prepared to encounter the novel as mirror, her finest book to date, a triumph.' Joseph O'Connor 'McCloskey writes with such care and craft; every description of the landscape of the west and the life of her captivating narrator is imbued with poetry and truth. When Light is Like Water is fresh and raw and completely entrancing.' Sara Baume 'I loved When Light is Like Water. It is absorbing, tense, and beautifully written. Molly McCloskey has written a wonderful novel.' Roddy Doyle 'This is a short but powerful novel about love - love for a mother, love for a husband, love for a lover. When Light Is Like Water will be read for many years to come for its wisdom and precision.' Edmund White 'A powerful and deeply affecting novel ... In writing that sparkles with intelligence and insight, the ordinary moments of everyday existence are charged with a beauty and tenderness that render them only just bearable' Mary Costello Praise for Molly McCloskey: 'An extravagantly gifted writer' Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph 'One of our finest writers' Colum McCann 'Every once in a while, a writer's voice hits such a clear note, the resulting book has the kind of sweetness that makes you hold it in your hands a moment before finding a place for it on your shelves. Circles around the Sun is this kind of book: it's a keeper.' Anne Enright, Guardian

When Light Is Like Water

Solomon's Seal

Contemporary

Phoenix (an Imprint of The Ori

Circles Around the Sun: In Search of a Lost Brother

Within a few years, his world had begun to fall apart. By the time Molly was old enough to begin to know him, Mike was heavily medicated and frequently delusional, living in hospitals or care homes or on the road. Years later, through reading an astonishing archive of letters preserved by her mother and grandmother, and interviewing old friends of Mike's, Molly began to piece together a picture of her brother's life, before and after the illness struck--the story of how a gifted and well-liked student and athlete was overtaken by a terrible illness that rendered him unrecognizable. Now she tells that story--which is also the story of her own demons and of the ways in which a seemingly perfect family can slowly fall apart, and in the end, regroup. Circles Around the Sun is a work of extraordinary intensity and drama from a wonderfully gifted writer.

Community & Culture

Abrams Press

Then, as a young adult, Molly found herself panicky and drinking heavily--and wondered about her own sanity. She began to piece together a picture of her family history--and the story of how Mike, a gifted student and athlete, was overtaken by an illness that rendered him unrecognizable. Circles Around the Sun is a courageous and beautiful memoir that sheds light not only on McCloskey's family, but on the myths that all families build for themselves.

From “an extravagantly gifted writer who deserves to be widely read” (Rachel Cusk, The Telegraph), this intimate, quietly stunning novel tells the story of a young American expat who settles in Ireland in the late 1980s, marries, and lives through the consequences of an affair. Alice, a young American, arrives in the West of Ireland with no plans and no strong attachments—except to her beloved mother, who raised her on her own. Alice falls in love with an Irishman, marries him, and settles down in a place whose customs she struggles to understand. In the course of a single hot summer, she embarks on an affair that breaks her marriage and sets her life on a new course. Years later, after working in war zones around the world, and in the immediate aftermath of her mother’s death, Alice finds herself back in Ireland and contemplating the forces that led her to put down roots and then tear them up again. What drew her to her husband, and what pulled her away? Was her husband strangely complicit in the affair? Was she always under surveillance by friends and neighbors who knew more than they let on? “Molly McCloskey is one of Ireland’s finest writers” (Colum McCann) and Straying is at once a gripping account of passion and ambivalence and an exquisite rumination on the things that matter most: the definition of love, the value of family, and the meaning of home.

Straying: A Novel

United States

Scribner

“A memoir-vivid portrait of a vertiginous affair” (Vogue) for readers of Jenny Offill, Garth Greenwell, and Anne Enright, an unforgettable novel about a young American expat who settles in Ireland, marries, and lives through the consequences of an affair—by “an extravagantly gifted writer” (Rachel Cusk). In this “humane and lucid novel” (The New York Times), Alice, a young American, arrives in the West of Ireland with no plans and no strong attachments. She meets and falls in love with an Irishman, quickly marries him, and settles down in a place whose customs are unfamiliar. And then, in the course of a single hot summer, she embarks on an affair that breaks her marriage and sets her life on a new course. Years later, in the immediate aftermath of her beloved mother’s death, Alice, having worked in war zones around the world, finds herself back in Ireland, contemplating the forces that led her to put down roots and then tear them up again. What drew her to her husband, and what pulled her away? Was her husband strangely complicit in the affair? Was she always under surveillance by friends and neighbors who knew more than they let on? “Short, intense, and emotionally precise” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), Straying is at once a “ferociously well written” (The Guardian) account of passion and ambivalence and an exquisite rumination on the things that matter most.

Protection

The first novel by Molly McCloskey author of two acclaimed short-story collections tells the story of a family in present-day Dublin: Gillian, who runs a self-help farm for over-stressed high-achievers; her husband Damian, who becomes the public face of a dubiously conceived heritage village that attempts to re-create 1950s Ireland; and their daughter Heather, who isn't sure whether she wants her teenage life to speed up or slow down. It's a book about memory and loss, modernity and love; or, as the agent put it, Anne Tyler meets Jonathan Franzen'.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McCloskey, Molly. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by McCloskey, Molly

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McCloskey, Molly. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Circles Around the Sun

When Light is Like Water

When Light Is Like Water

Solomon's Seal

Circles Around the Sun: In Search of a Lost Brother

Circles Around the Sun: In Search of a Lost Brother

Straying: A Novel

Straying: A Novel

Protection

Protection