A Pagan Place

From the iconic author of The Country Girlstrilogy, a modern Irish coming-of-age classic.



'The taboo-breaking, the fabulous prose - there's no one like Edna O'Brien.' Anne Enright



'Novels of heart-breaking empathy, rigorous honesty and peerless beauty.' Eimear McBride



'A profound intelligence spurred on by a tangible, fizzing joy.' Megan Nolan



'Brilliant and brave.' Ann Patchett



'Glittering energy.' Colm Tóibín



After leaving for a religious community in Belgium, a young woman becomes lost in memories of her childhood in rural Ireland, reflecting on the rituals of village life, the people she encountered, the enchanting beauty of the landscape, the concept of home - and the shocking event that led to her departure ...

This ebook features the first chapter of Edna O'Brien's stunning novel, Girl.



Edna O'Brien wrote more than twenty celebrated novels, including her classic The Country Girls Trilogy, as well as multiple plays and works of non-fiction, which have been translated into over thirty languages. Her final novel was the acclaimed Girl, which won the Kerry Group Prize for Fiction in 2020. She was the recipient of many accolades, including the Irish PEN Lifetime Achievement Award, the American National Arts Gold Medal, the Frank O'Connor Prize, the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature and the David Cohen Prize for Literature. In 2018, O'Brien was appointed an honorary Dame of the Order of the British Empire, and in 2021, she was also awarded the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Born and raised in the west of Ireland, she lived in London for many years before her death on 27 July 2024.