The book revolves around a bus that plunges into a hole in the road, which sounds a bit strange.
However, the book focuses on the lives of 5 individuals who are involved in the accident in some way; 3 are passengers on the bus.

Some of the story focuses on the history of these characters before the accident - heads up that Nina and Tim's chapters are heartbreaking, if it was just them I wouldn't have been able to finish it.
All of the characters talk about their lives and the book looks at how the accident has thrown things into perspective in some way.

Not a fast-paced story, and nothing big particularly happens but a nice read.

When an every day journey turns into a disaster everyone is forced to reflect on their life so far. Journalist, Nina is prepared to cover the story even though people around her are worried that she might not be able to handle it. Written from different perspectives, Murphy explores grief from multiple angles, the life before and the life after. I found Where the Edge Is to be a quick read but I would let people know that the topic of child bereavement is featured,

I started this novel thinking I would be reading a thriller (this was quite a challenge commuting by bus on slippery roads) but soon found out that it was anything but. It was more a story of coping with loss, about Nina and Tim who lost their young daughter and could not get through thistogether., and about the families of the bus passengers. When I got used to the idea that I was not reading a thriller but a very moving novel (tragedy) I could not stop. I just loved it from beginning to end.

A Novel.that is apparently about the tragic bus incident, but is multi-layered and weaves a much more complicated story than I first anticipated. We have various characters, some from the crash, another covering it for her work another who is liaising on the rescue,all with their own issues and sorrows.
Part of me really liked the whole metaphorical and literal multi layer story, but part of me was also geared up for a really tense, thriller based on the crash and that it was not.which I think is why I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. Interesting, character driven, not quite what I was expecting.

This book could be considered a thrilling but traumatic read. Thrilling as in it depicts 24 hours of grief, agony and waiting for results. If you have a lot of empathy this may be difficult to read. Good job to the author for making the anxiety and excitement connect to the reader. I would consider this a difficult book to read and thus gave it 3 stars rather than 5. Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows multiple characters perspectives as a tragic bus crash occurs in a quiet town in the west of Ireland.

This wasn’t the book I was expecting to be honest. I thought there’d be a bigger focus on the crash scene, as the blurb suggests, but in reality that’s not the case. Murphy examines the impact of grief, being the central theme of this book. It is examined mainly through Nina (reporter) and Tim (rescue liaison) grappling with the loss of their baby and their break-up. We get different perspectives: between the people working from the outside of the bus crash to the survivors to the people still in the bus. But the emphasis on the crash is not there - it is more character driven and the crash is mainly a means that connects these characters.

At first I wanted the focus to be on the crash but I think the way Murphy looked at grief, through Nina mostly, was important and heart-breaking. How we deal with grief and how it really is something that varies from person to person.

Murphy also explores themes such as racism and identity. It did make me raise my eyebrow a bit at the start, particularly with the theme of race. I wasn’t sure where Murphy was going with it. I was afraid of it being an element that would fade into the background, just added for the sake of it. I wanted her to do it justice. But as I read on, I started to see what Murphy was doing and how it became an integral part of the story.

This book gave me Jodi Picoult vibes as I was reading it, and I enjoy her work so that’s a good thing.

I’m glad I gave this book a chance. At the start I wasn’t sure if it was going to be for me but I ended up liking it in the end. A thought-provoking read.

Thank you to Legend Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

Beautifully written. I'm afraid i wasn't able to finish this due to personal circumstances. But nothing to do with the book!

This novel is about much more than a harrowing bus crash and its victims. It is much more about grief and guilt...and finding a path forward in survival. I loved this exploration of the damage that people carry in all its forms. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a digital ARC for review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A divorced couple meets again at the site of a tragedy. They are able to find much needed closure through their work.

I very much enjoyed this debut! A lovely read in the current disaster-is-just-around-the-corner climate.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
I liked the idea behind the story and the author built a lot of suspense. The writing was mainly good, if a little long winded at times.
There could have been twists and turns as well as more action added to the story to make it faster paced and more dynamic.
On the whole, an OK book.

I really enjoyed this novel overall. The characters were detailed and had a lot of depth, and the story overall really sucked me in. I wanted to know what each of their stories was and whether they would be rescued in time. I liked the balance of the point of view between the people on the bus, and the rescuers/journalists. It did make me think about what's important in life, and how I would see my life if I was faced with a sudden event like this.

This could have been fascinating if it focused more on what was happening with the bus crash, but instead it was a lot of a few characters remembering things that happened previously in their lives. It was overly wordy, and the one character I wanted to get to know more wasn't explained well. Overall, not as interesting as its blurb made it seem.

Thank you to Netgalley, Legend Press, and Gráinne Murphy for this e-copy in return for my honest review. I had heard good things about this novel through my book club, so I was delighted to get my hands on a copy. I hands-down adored this book, poignant and powerful, it was such an impressive debut. I'm a massive Jodi Picoult fan and this multi-point of view story definitely reminded me of Jodi's style of storytelling. I absolutely loved it - so raw and emotional, I'll definitely be recommending this book to anyone that will listen.

It took me a little time to review my thoughts after finishing and read some other reviews to try to pin point the confusion.

I picked this up believing it to be about a bus crash and the tense events surrounding it. This book is not that.

It is a collection of people brought together by a tragedy reflecting on their lives whilst in the midst of said tragedy. It coves some difficult topics such as grief, racism, manipulation in a raw and loud manner, there is no tip-toeing in parts and some characters at times are quite unlikeable.

I really did enjoy reading this book it just wasn’t what I was expecting from the description I was urging the author to take me back to the crash site and spend more time with those characters rather than the ones on the outskirts. A large proportion of the book is regarding the loss of baby which occurred 2 years before the crash, which was emotional and beautifully written but felt like it’s own story within the one I was anticipating.

A multi-perspective exploration of a local tragedy, in the vein of authors such as Jodi Picoult. While this wasn't quite for me--a little too saccharine--I can see the appeal and Murphy's voice is strong.

It took me some time to put my thoughts together on this book. Do you ever not like part of a book but know it is a really good book? That is Where the Edge Is for me.

Where the Edge Is is a beautifully written book full of insight about life, relationships, and hardships. There is so much prose that is quotable and brimming with wisdom. This heart wrenching book is full of deeper meaning, starting with the title. While the synopsis implies that this book is focused a tragic sinkhole accident, it was really more about people tettering on the edge between the past and the present, grief and acceptance.

In the first of four parts, more and more narratives are introducted, and initially, there seemed to be too many voices. But as the story unfolded, I appreciated the different perspectives and lives. But I still think that a few were unnecessary or not entirely pertinent to the story. To be honest, I really didn't care about a couple of these characters or their lives. A few I wanted to entirely skip over; it would have been easy to do. But I stuck with it and read every page. I do think it's important for me to mention that this is because some of their stories did not resonate with me or subjects I care about. I do not think this will be true for everyone.

As I mentioned, the story was about the people tangentially connected to the crash and their lives, rather than about the accident. I was left feeling like Murphy wanted to write a book about several other things but didn't know how to connect the characters. As a result, she came up with the bus and the sinkhole, rather than the other way around. I just really wanted for this to be about the accident, how it came about, how it was handled, and its repercussions! Instead, I read a book about mostly things that happened to characters before and completely unrelated to the incident.

Ultimately, I wanted to love this book like I loved the premise provided in the synopsis, but I just couldn't. That being said, I found this an excellent debut that will pull on your heart strings and characters that will stick with you.

I really recommend this book as long as you go in knowing that it is not really about a bus and a sinkhole. It is a book about people, families, and the obstacles they must overcome.

A fantastic debut
Poignant and powerful, this immersive character study follows a group of strangers in the aftermath of a bus crash in a rural Irish town. It starts as an ordinary morning, but then the road collapses and a bus falls into it, trapping six passengers. As firefighters try to find the safest way to free them we follow three of the passengers, the driver and passenger who managed to escape, a journalist and her firefighter ex-husband. The author gives us a window into their lives and innermost thoughts, examining topics such as grief, mental health, identity, race, religion, homelessness and how our society judges, even if in the midst of a tragedy.

While I enjoyed this book, it was a very different book than I imagined, in part because I feel the synopsis is misleading. It reads like this will be a tense book that has you on the edge of your seat but is instead a steadily paced story that uses the bus crash as the catalyst that brings the characters together and focuses on deeper issues. Moving between multiple points of view, we are offered some contrasting and varying views on life and the world, with each person dealing with their part in the story in very different ways.

There is a former couple still dealing with the loss of their baby daughter and the end of their marriage, an immigrant struggling to fit in and find her place in the cultures of either her birth or adopted home, the bus driver who doesn't feel worthy of his hero title, a disabled young woman dreaming of her future but also scared, wondering when rescue will come, a young woman trying to find her place in the world and battling against a toxic parent, and a teenage boy dealing with all the trauma that time brings. They are an eclectic and wonderfully written group of characters who make for fascinating reading. The background cast enhance the main characters and are just as well written, adding drama and tension to the story.

This is a fantastic debut novel. The author's talent is evident in her intelligent and moving prose, the way she offers just the right amount of humour, offering much-needed splashes of light amongst the overall darker tone of the story, and her keen observations. I'm excited to see what she writes next.

Quietly powerful. Will please fans of multi-POV tales that aren't afraid to examine deep emotions. A recommended purchase for all fiction collections.

I was surprised this was a debut novel as it was well written with a good pace. Though I enjoyed it I think the premise was misleading as there was little about the actual bus and the incident but more about the other characters. Unfortunately all the characters seems to have issues which made for a difficult read. Certainly not a book to read if you have suffered loss, feel depressed or are looking for an uplifting read.