So many things were not taken into consideration as they might have been. The master monk is drawn to be a religious fanatic, a despot, a dictator, and a truly brutal man, accompanied by too compelling other brothers, an elder, and a younger. But it just didn’t work - not for this reader, in any case, and I have to say that I feel the author has left us with one of the ugliest central characters at the heart of what could have been a far more generous and indeed glorious novel. Donoghue for being able to call from her literary and conversational research some really wonderful disclosures about how sixth-century men might have made their way there, and labored to create a monastic settlement in the sea. I must say, I find this a disqualification for the labor she undertook in trying to imagine and describe the first monastic settlers to this place of resurrection - a weird trinity of wonderfully different characters. I find myself days after the completion of its reading, still arguing and wrestling with Donoghue, the author, who only at the end of the story confessed that she had never been there. And though there were moments of marvelous description and intuition about how the founding trio of monks may have found their way to survive briefly this most rugged and unforgiving rock mountain in the sea, none of these moments added up to what the promise of the book was. Pre-order Learned by Heart, the dazzling new love story from Emma Donoghue.As one who has scaled the arduous ascent of Skellig Micheal on several occasions, I was so eager to read this book with its promise of insight and imagination. The Irish Times 'Books to Look Out For in 2022'. One of Easons 'Favourite Book of the Year 2022'. Haunting, moving and vividly told, Haven displays Emma Donoghue’s trademark world-building and psychological intensity – but this tale is like nothing she has ever written before. But in such a place, far from all other humanity, what will survival mean? Their extraordinary landing spot is now known as Skellig Michael. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. Taking two monks – young Trian and old Cormac – he travels down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. 'Combines pressure-cooker intensity and radical isolation, to stunning effect.' – Margaret Atwood via Twitter 'This is Donoghue at her strange, unsettling best.' - Maggie O'Farrell, author of Hamnet The highly anticipated novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Pull of the Stars and Room

Emma donoghue haven