About the Book
'Absolutely MAGNIFICENT: dark, witty, charming. I LOVED it.' MARIAN KEYES
'Original, terrifying, hilarious and memorable.' SUNDAY TIMES IRELAND
'An Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit, a dark supernatural mystery and an account of mass trauma...meticulously observed.' GUARDIAN
When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences.
It is late June in Ballylack. Hannah Adger anticipates eight long weeks' reprieve from school, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other.
As others fall ill, questions about what - or who - is responsible pitch the village into conflict and fearful disarray. Hannah is haunted by guilt as she remains healthy while her friends are struck down. Isolated and afraid, she prays for help.
Elsewhere in the village, tempers simmer, panic escalates and long-buried secrets threaten to emerge.
Bursting with Carson's trademark wit, profound empathy and soaring imagination, The Raptures explores how tragedy can unite a small community - and tear it apart. At its heart is the extraordinary resilience of one young girl. As the world crumbles around her, she must find the courage to be different in a place where conforming feels like the only option available.
Darkly funny, highly inventive and deeply moving, The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022
'I gobbled up The Raptures . . . packed with wit and heart, and always utterly absorbing.' LISA MCINERNEY
'Utterly compulsive and gripping . . . Jan Carson is a true original. An absolute must read. Outstanding.' ELAINE FEENEY
'Heart-rending, hilarious . . . it's a belter' LOUISE KENNEDY
'Blistering...glorious...written from the guts and from the heart.' LUCY CALDWELL
'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES
Darkly funny, highly inventive and deeply moving, The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022
Readers love The Raptures:
***** 'An incredibly original and compelling story set in a Protestant community during the Troubles in N.Ireland.'
***** 'A beautiful story about religion, illness, death, grief, ghosts, growing up, belonging and family'
***** 'I couldn't put it down... Definitely one of the top books this year.'
***** 'A very vivid picture of life in a religious community in rural Northern Ireland during the early 90s but in many ways it transcends its time and place... I gulped it down.'
***** 'I loved everything about this book. The writing style, the characters, the humour. Best book I have read this year by a mile!'
About the Author :
Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. Her first novel, Malcolm Orange Disappears, was published in 2014 to critical acclaim, followed by a short-story collection, Children's Children (2016), and two flash fiction anthologies, Postcard Stories (2017) and Postcard Stories 2 (2020). Her second novel, The Fire Starters (2019), won the EU Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. She has won the Harper's Bazaar short-story competition and has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award and the Sean Faolain Short Story Prize. She specializes in running arts projects and events with older people, especially those living with dementia.
Review :
Absolutely MAGNIFICENT: dark, witty, charming. I LOVED it
Heart-rending, hilarious . . . It's a belter.
An Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit, a dark supernatural mystery and an account of mass trauma. Carson forges these parts into a tragicomedy in which fantastic elements slot almost seamlessly alongside kitchen-sink realism...compassionate and meticulously observed.'
Original and vivid, The Raptures is its own beautiful, unique thing
The book's beauty comes from its hilarious depiction of claustrophobic small-town life
An utterly compulsive and gripping portrayal of the brilliance of children, the power of intergenerational relationships, and the certainty of our human desire to belong. An utterly engrossing read - one that confronts the trauma of loss and the dangers of religious zealotry through powerful narrative, compelling characters and sharp wit. Jan Carson is a true original. An absolute must read. Outstanding.
The Raptures is a wonderful piece of fiction. It engages the reader with a clever plot and with its perfect portrayal of parochial life in Northern Ireland imploded by tragedy told in prose that shimmers with empathy, warmth and humanity.
A fascinating tale of trauma, fury and panic.
I gobbled up The Raptures. It's a delightful read - sharp, packed with wit and heart, and always utterly absorbing. And it's got that perfectly Irish mix of darkness and humour, the smartarsed wink into the void.
A blistering account of small-town Ulster life, The Raptures is unflinching in its exploration of the corrosive effects of fear and small-mindedness on a community, and the trauma wreaked by uncompromising religious fundamentalism on a young and tender soul. Rich in a glorious colloquial idiom, rich with Jan Carson's sharp, sardonic wit, it is ultimately a hopeful read, too, about the ways - whether we like it or not - we are all connected. This is a book written from the guts and from the heart.
An original and exciting work that's equal parts terrifying, hilarious and memorable... It is truly one of those books in which every piece fits together like the cogs of a watch.
Hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure, The Raptures is a very special novel. Jan Carson is a writer of astounding empathy, giving every character - alive or dead - a voice that rings brilliantly true. A real gem.
This superb book deserves all the plaudits and praise going.
I laughed, cried, was enraptured.
Jan has such a singular voice; she is somehow able to write gently and playfully about the largest, most timely and tragic of topics. Here she has conjured a scenario that feels both very true and very mysterious. I adored it.
The Raptures is perfect and generous and beautifully crafted and everything I demand from a book. And Hannah, brave and brilliant Hannah -- I've made up a room for her in my heart forever. I'll be putting it in every hand this Christmas.
An instantly compelling and novel take on a fractured society, The Raptures is a captivating, clever book by a truly original writer
