The City Changes Its Face

A MUST-READ NOVEL OF 2025 IN THE GUARDIAN, FINANCIAL TIMES, IRISH TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, STYLIST, AND MANY OTHERS

‘One of the finest writers at work today.’ ANNE ENRIGHT
‘McBride is a cartographer of the secret self, guiding us towards hidden treasure.’ CLAIRE KILROY
‘Eimear McBride does extraordinary things with language . . . she breaks every rule in the grammar book and gleefully gets away with it.’ GUARDIAN
‘A typical McBride work. Praise doesn’t come much higher.’ FINANCIAL TIMES

So, all would be grand then, as far as the eye could see. Which it was, for a while. Up until the city, remembering its knives and forks, invited itself in to dine.

It’s 1995. Outside their grimy window, the city rushes by. But in the flat there is only Stephen and Eily. Their bodies, the tangled sheets. Unpacked boxes stacked in the kitchen and the total obsession of new love.

Eighteen months later, the flat feels different. Love is merging with reality. Stephen’s teenage daughter has re-appeared, while Eily has made a choice, the consequences of which she cannot outrun. Now they face a reckoning for all that’s been left unspoken – emotions, secrets and ambitions. Tonight, if they are to find one another again, what must be said aloud?

Love rallies against life. Time tells truths. The city changes its face.