Ghost Wedding

For fans of Sebastian Faulks, Donal Ryan and Anne Tyler comes this beautiful novel following two troubled men, separated by nearly a century, bound by the ghosts that haunt a beautiful Irish manor George Allenby is still wrestling with his experiences as an officer during the First World War when he is sent by his employers to construct a lake at the Manor House, home of the newly rich Remington family. The construction process raises traumatic memories that he isn't yet prepared to face, but solace emerges in the unlikely form of Cora, a maid in the grand home.  Almost a century later, Alex and Ellie are planning their wedding in the grounds of the Manor House. But like Allenby before him, Alex is haunted by a secret that threatens to destroy the life he has built. As the day of his wedding approaches, he must decide whether to tell Ellie about the evening he will always regret. In this masterful portrait of love and betrayal, David Park reveals the many ways the past seeps into the present: destructive, formidable, but also hopeful, in the many moments of fragile beauty that remain.

About the Author :
David Park is the author of ten novels, a novella and two collections of short stories. His first novel The Healing (Jonathan Cape 1992) won the Authors’ Club First Novel Award, and his novel Travelling in a Strange Land, won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2019 and was longlisted for The International Dublin Literary Award. He has been shortlisted four times for the Irish Novel of the year and longlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Competition. His work has featured on BBC Radio 4, both as short stories and twice as the Book at Bedtime, and is published widely in translation. He is an Honorary Fellow in the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Review :
'A beautifully luminous and powerfully haunting piece of writing about the things that live in the shadows just beyond our reach.' Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry 'A thought-provoking novel about the power of the past. The romance is beautifully drawn in this tale of two couples whose lives overlap at a Northern Irish manor house, a century apart.' Guardian 'David Park is one of Ireland's finest writers. He has written a symphony of extraordinary novels, not least Ghost Wedding.' Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon 'David Park is one of Ireland's great novelists.' Roddy Doyle, author of The Commitments 'A writer to cherish, a master of fiction in great form. A most splendid novel: lucid, luminous, with enough secrets to break your heart and hold you spellbound, Ghost Wedding from David Park is wonderful stuff indeed.' Frank McGuinness, author of The Factory Girls 'An astute storyteller whose vision is sustained by instinct, intelligent observation, and a sense of responsibility.' Irish Times  'Park appears to write effortlessly, with one foot planted firmly in the canon of traditional Irish lyricism and another flirting with modern parlance. His emotional intelligence is remarkable.' Daily Mail  'Time is fluid in David Park's masterfully constructed novel where the shifting plates of the past slip their boundaries, causing seismic waves in the here and now... A compelling and absolutely mesmerising read from the maestro of the quiet crescendo.' Bernie McGill, author of The Watch House 'The Belfast Turgenev... One of the truest observers of life.' Big Issue 'Our finest novelist has written his finest novel. A work of heart and wit and exquisite prose. On this sort of form there is no one to touch David Park. Even by his own exceptionally high standards, Ghost Wedding is a remarkable novel, by turns exhilarating and profound, in sentences - whole passages - that sometimes take the breath away.' Glenn Patterson, author of The International 'David Park has been writing carefully crafted fiction for decades. His latest work is about two men, separated in time by nearly a century, who are haunted by actions from their past that threaten to undo them in the present... Park tells their parallel stories with skill and insight.' The Times (Best Historical Fiction Books of 2025) 'A moral tale of guilt, grace and subtle reckonings... Park's prose is restrained, lyrical, and charged with what remains unsaid.' Irish Independent 'This stunning portrait of love and peace, war and betrayal, is the story of two men, living 100 years apart but connected by location... Intelligent, heart-wrenching storytelling.' Platinum Magazine 'Park is a dab hand at plainspoken tales brim-full of unvoiced feeling. His new book, set on an Irish country manor, toggles between two guilt-struck men a century apart: George, a traumatised war veteran building a lake, and property developer Alex, whose imminent wedding is shadowed by a murky episode from his past. The drama owes less to explosive crisis than to moral poison from their unlanced shame.' Mail on Sunday, 'Best New Fiction'