Most anticipated in the IRISH TIMES, TORONTO STAR, and the BOOK CULTURE newsletter โข INDIE NEXT LIST PICK โข LIBRARY READS SELECTION โข PERFECT FOR BOOK CLUBS โข DEBUT NOVEL
"A consistently surprising, evocative, almost impossible to put down, and gloriously original work." โBooklist
A stunning debut novel from the Northern Irish poet Eoghan Walls, The Gospel of Orla is the coming-of-age story of a young girl, Orla, and theย man she meets who has an astonishing andย unique ability.
It is alsoย a road novel that takes us across the north of England after the two flee Orlaโs village together.ย Here the mysteries of faith charge full bore into the vagaries of contemporary mores. A humorous, wise, deeply human and sometimes breathtaking work of lyricalย fiction.ย
โA melancholic, funny, and magical coming-of-age story, The Gospel of Orla is glorious, wise, and totally weird. I loved it.โ โAnnie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals
"Utterly convincing and fresh and original." โColm Tรณibรญn, author of The Magician
"In his debut novel, poet Eoghan Walls imagines the intersection of the material and the mystic. . . . As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin." โKia Corthron, author of Moon and the Mars