‘Back in the flat, Sylvia is no use. She doesn’t have any ideas, all she suggests is get a job, take your time, get some money together, then go somewhere. But Clodagh needs to go now, needs to go today if possible. Even Seamus has gone. But where, and with what?’
Clodagh finds herself adrift after leaving her partner Seamus. Navigating addiction, the harsh realities of a housing crisis, and relationships pushed to the brink, this is a story of her attempts to reconnect with herself, and those closest to her, in a gritty, vividly rendered contemporary Dublin.
Weaving from place to place and person to person – past friends, fellow users and her worried mother Sylvia – Clodagh struggles to fully understand herself, or the city she calls home. Urban isolation, the trials of modern life and the fleeting beauty found in Dublin marble every scene of this novel. Somewhere is a raw and intimate portrait of a woman balancing on the edge of survival, seeking meaning and love amid isolation and addiction.
About the Author :
Jessamine O'Conor is writer based in Sligo, Ireland. Her debut poetry collection Silver Spoon was published by Salmon Poetry (2020). The Opposite of Grieving (2023) was published by Nine Pens. She is also the founder of The Hermit Collective, a creative group that bring together pop-up shows of poetry, art, music, stories, and more.
Review :
Somewhere is a compassionate portrait of addiction, family and love in the shadowy parts of contemporary Dublin. Beautifully written and compulsively readable, it is also full of hope. I absolutely loved it.
Beautifully crafted, devastating and human. O’Connor writes about addiction, its most despairing and miraculous moments, with utter compassion.
Fresh, candid, and at times unbearably moving; O’Connor is a poet, and she brings that same sensibility to this, her first novel, with lyricism in every line. Perspective shifts seamlessly between each of the characters as they lose and find themselves on the streets of Dublin. A fine debut.
