Three monks - one a prior, and two chosen by him as his companions leave everything to travel to a rocky outcrop off the west coast of Ireland. Brilliant characterisations of a man totally self-obsessed and lacking any awareness of his companions, the older monk who is totally forgiving, kind and practical, and the young man with a secret. And the events that take place are realistic, and well-told. This novel is recommended to anyone wishing to read a good story.

With thanks to NetGalley and Picador for an ARC.

I had a really hard time getting into this story. The idea around this book and the concept of 3 religious men and their story intrigued me. This book was too slow, it took to long to get off the ground.

I love Emma's books and will keep a candle burning for her next best seller! Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC.

I am a fan of the authors first book “Room” and heard great things about the authors subsequent ones, so I was excited to receive a copy of her new book Haven.
Set in seventh century Ireland, Holy man and Scholar Artt arrives at the Monastery on the coast of Southwestern Ireland with a dream that he must start a new monastery far away on an Inhabited Ireland, away from civilisation. Two monks have the same dream. Trian who has been at the monastery since he was a las of thirteen years and Cormac who arrived at the monastery after his wife and children died. The three of them go on a journey bringing the bare minimum necessities with them.
They arrive at the island of Skellig Michael an isolated and barren island where only one tree grows and an island full of birds. They do gods work and start building the monastery. But it is a hard old slog, with the minimum tools and provisions.
I am a fan of the authors first book “Room” and heard great things about the authors subsequent ones, so I was excited to receive a copy of her new book Haven. I also like books set in Ireland, so I thought this is just up my street.
The story started well, and I found this too have an interesting storyline. But the found this story slow and hard going. I was waiting for something to wow me but unfortunately it didn’t and found it bit repetitive and I nearly didn’t finish it. Three stars from me.

I haven’t always loved Emma Donoghue’s books, but the different subjects and stories she writes are impressive. I’ll admit to diving into Haven, without even reading what it was about. About a third of the way in, I did think it would’ve been a good idea to read the blurb first of all.

It’s set in seventh century Ireland and about 3 monks who go off to inhabit one of the Skellig islands. I found the whole lifestyle they had quite repulsive - from the food they ate, how remote they were, to giving priority to building an altar and church before their own living quarters. It is basic and so so far removed from life today. The religion is heavy and shocking. I really wondered why I read this book.

However, from a third of the way in, I was hooked. I wanted to see how their lives and relationship, with each other and with God developed. It was hugely captivating in the end. I’m glad I didn’t know what I was going into, as I definitely wouldn’t have chosen this as likeable reading matter.

Huge respect for author imagining the lifestyle laid out in these pages and creating a story arc that captures you when you least expect it.
I read an ARC via @netgalley , one of Pan Mcmillan titles.

I didn't know what to expect from this book when I read the blurb but I was excited to give it a try. It was beautifully written with a gripping story and well developed characters.

Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with this book for review. A beautifully written book, very interesting.

I really tried to get into this book as I have enjoyed the previous novels by Emma Donoghue. However, I failed to finish as I found the story boring.

A very different genre of book I would usually choose, yet with such great detail and story line it had me hooked . This is the first Emma Donoghue book I have read but I certainly will now be getting her previous book to read. A real pleasure to read

Having read and loved 'Room' I was excited to read this latest by Emma Donoghue. It tells the story of three monks who set out to find and settle on an island that the leader of the three dreamed about.

The story is set in around the year 600 and the author has taken as her springboard Skellig Michael, am island off the coast of Ireland, which was probably in habited by monks in the year 600. Prior Artt arrives at a monastery on the River Shannon. He is a 'famous' monk, a scholar and a scribe. After a dream he asks permission to take with him two monks, glimpsed in his dream, to travel to an isolated island to found a new monastery. The two monks are Cormac, an older man who became a monk around fifteen years earlier after he lost his family to plague, and Trian, a young mink who was given to the monastery by his family when he was thirteen. These two pledge an oath of obedience to Artt who will become their Prior. We follow them to the island and this turns into an kind of survival story as they try to found their monastery on this inhospitable island that is the home to seabirds.

Trian is able to use the skill that he learned as a child to understand the birds, to fish, to hunt while Cormac is the one who can build and cook. Artt however becomes this character who becomes intransigent, his faith is everything, he follows, obsessively, trusting in the power of prayer to provide food and shelter and the others have no choice but to follow him.

For me, I found the revelation at the end to be slightly out of place but serves to raise the question about Christ's love and whether one man has the power of God over man and nature.

This is a slow burn and yes, well written and of some interest but I was not invested in it or the characters. Sorry.

Thanks to Netgalley and Picador for a copy of this book.

In 7th century Ireland, devout priest and scholar, Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. He takes with him tow monks, young Trian and old Cormac. They row down the Sionnan (Shannon) in search of a remote island to found a new monastery; they discover an island that we now know as Skellig Michael.

Growing up in the South-west of Ireland myself, the incredible story of the monks and the harsh life they lived on Skellig Michael was something I grew up learning about, so I was very excited to read this.

If you're going into this book with zero prior knowledge of the history of Skellig Michael, Ireland, its mythology and the life of early Christian monks, know that Donoghue will not hold your hand, and researching along the way, may be beneficial to you.

This book is incredibly well researched (I expected nothing less from Donoghue). I really enjoyed the references to Irish mythology. A slow paced story about 3 monks living in isolation could easily be boring, but with Donoghue's writing I found it very compelling and intriguing.

The ending was incredible.

This is a book that will stick with me.

Whenever I read a book set in long-ago times, I am reminded how lucky I am to live now. It's easy to romanticise life in the seventh century - simpler, closer to nature etc. - but ultimately it was hard work, dangerous, and often short. Emma Donoghue's latest novel is about three monks who set sail to find an uninhabited island, away from the temptations and sins of human society.

Their leader is Artt, a religious zealot who believes he is following a vision sent by God. He is accompanied by Cormac, an elderly monk who came to the brotherhood later in life, and Trian, an awkward but hardworking teenage monk. These three very different characters set out together into the unknown, with only the most meagre of possessions, to spend the rest of their lives in seclusion together. A pretty extraordinary thing - especially when you remember that people really did set out on such voyages (most of the small islands off Ireland's south west coast have the remains of monastic settlements apparently). They eventually come upon the steep rocky island that we know today as Skellig Michael, and set about establishing themselves there. Artt's only thoughts are for furthering the will of God, whereas his followers are increasingly concerned about how they will avoid starvation. As you might expect, living in such close quarters and challenging conditions soon turn Artt's imagined paradise into something less appealing.

Emma Donoghue is a fabulous writer - she seems able to take any idea (and she seems to take inspiration anywhere and everywhere) and make it into a good, compelling book. A story with only three characters, living in isolation and their days spent mostly on mundane tasks of survival or religious rites, shouldn't be as absorbing and compelling as this is. Yet I was engrossed in it far more deeply than many a fast paced book. She has the gift of making characters interesting and sympathetic from the start, and her style always flows easily. I found the detail about their daily lives, how they managed to eke a living with so little, fascinating rather than dull - and that can only have come from being communicated by a very good writer.

It's really gripping as the tension gathers. I loved the characters of Trian and Cormac, and I found Artt incredibly frustrating but believable. The men's time on the island could be interpreted as an allegory for human existence in general - with it's mix of ingenuity and folly, the careless plundering of resources, dogmatic thinking overcoming good sense, but friendship and loyalty also prevailing. I was sorry when it ended - it's one of those stories you wish could carry on for longer in order to find out what became of the characters next.

I'd highly recommend this story to anyone who likes well written stories. It doesn't really fit in a specific pigeon hole, it's just a really engrossing and enjoyable read.

Quite a strange book for my taste.
An adventure story of three monks on an isolated island was always going to end badly.
The wildlife did not fare very well, nor did the monks.
The story was well structured, the descriptions were good and interesting. The research had obviously been well done, and the characters interacted well..
I am not sure that it will be woke enough for modern tastes.
I enjoyed it though .
Well done to the author and publisher.
My thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy for honest review.

This describes a thin line between religious fervour and insanity. A visiting scholar and theologian dreams of isolation on an uninhabited island, and re-enacts his dream by taking a young and an old monk on his journey. What follows verges on fanaticism, subjecting his followers to inhuman levels of deprivation and possible death.
I found myself drawn to their situation, although I have never felt close to religion. Why do they subject themselves to near starvation and the absence of comfort in the name of devotion to God? Their leader seems to thrive on adversity, trusting in his beliefs to see them through, and as the older monk says “saints can be cruel”. I was intrigued to see how the situation would end as it surely must in disaster. A heart warming read nevertheless, and I loved the characters, the writing being both sensitive and evocative, with the island conjured up in all its bleakness.

Is there anything that Emma Donoghue can’t write about? Every era, gender of subject, age, country she hits the mark perfectly every time.
There is a prevailing air of distress in this novel, punctuated with highs of emotion be they happy or traumatic. I instantly fell in love with Trian and very quickly thereafter with Cormac. Artt I could never warm to. Perhaps it wasn’t her intention but I read in this narrative not of the dangers of devoting yourself wholeheartedly to a religious faith although they are plain to see; but also the danger of man’s ego when coupled with control over other people. The difficulty men with that kind of ego have with ever climbing down from their position and admitting that they are wrong or that they need help. Artt embodies the toxic masculinity that is a hot topic these days. For a novel set in such ancient times Donoghue has seamlessly woven in modern day issues surrounding gender fluidity, use of scarce resources and coercive control showing that issues of humanity are usually the same ones that people have wrestled with in their own way for many centuries.
Donoghue has always had a talent for scene setting but in this novel she surpasses herself. The bleak and beautiful skellig and its native inhabitants of various bird species are compelling, detailed and haunting. I can see so clearly in my minds eye the rugged cross, the plain hut and chapel and Trian catching sea bird after sea bird to feed the fire as fuel.
There is something touching and trusting about the monk’s faith and their adherence to their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and life at the monastery in the opening chapters feels rich and fulfilling with a warm brotherhood which I think says something about religious organisations being a family and a community and not three men cut off from everything and everyone they’ve ever known.

This is a difficult one to review, as I really don't know what to think of this book. Having read Room and loved it, I expected to have a similar reaction to Haven. In a way the theme is very similar - people held captive at the hands of a deranged person. But there the comparison ends. The only person I had any real sympathy for was Cormac. Trian, I felt, could have stood up to the Prior who effectively treated the others as slaves, claiming it was God's will, but I suppose Trian's secret, not revealed till late in the book, held him back from confrontation.

I wouldn't go so far as to say the book bored me, but all the time I was looking forward to getting to the end. I was intrigued to see how it would end, and the final act by Cormac and Trian is very fitting.

This may not be the usual type of book for me to pick up as the plot sounds somewhat dull: three holy men leave a monastery to found a new place of worship based on Artt's dream. However "Haven" by Emma Donoghue is just beautifully written, focussing on the minutiae of daily life and how they are going to survive on what is essentially a giant rock in the sea. Wonderful stuff!

Not quite sure what to make of this novel. Would have liked some more insight from the author in the afterward.
Very well researched. Great characters. Slow paced but an absorbing read, Room was a truly superb read but others have been off the boil a bit. Religious references galore it was a little preachy.
Good for a book club I suspect

Ab interesting cast of characters - their story, journey and interactions, and their expressions of faith in a time where this was so rigidly defined.
This was clearly well researched and full of detail into all aspects of the monks’ life on the island - and the author note at the end added to this.

My goodness this is an unusual book. I admire Emma Donoghue for being able to research and come up with so many different ideas and styles for books.
I can see that sadly many people will not like this story. It certainly takes some getting into but actually I enjoyed the challenge and felt really glad that I had the opportunity to read it. I can't say that I liked the character of the Priest in charge. Indeed he became more unlikable as the story unfolded but his companions had some guts and I both admired and pitied them both.
To any would-be reader I will say, give this a go, open your mind and imagination and take the challenge to see it through. If nothing else, it will make you think about what is important in your life and what we all really need to make life worth living!

Set in 7th century Ireland, Artt has a vision that he and two companions must set off together in a boat and leave the corrupt, sinful world behind. They must find a haven, a place where they can carry out God’s work.

Donoghue’s novels are so different and varied. I read Room many years ago and it was a novel that I really stuck with me. I would describe Haven overall as an exploration of spirituality and faith. It is an examination of the introspection of the three main characters; the zealot Artt, Cormac-a monk who came to Christianity much later in life, and the young and eager Trian. I found Artt to be a hard and arrogant man, completely unaware of the struggles of his fellow monks. Cormac and Trian were far more interesting characters in terms of their respective backgrounds and their thoughts on their voyage. I struggled with this story as it was too heavy on the Christianity teaching and in particular Artt’s views.

The story was beautifully written and Donoghue’s meticulous research on all aspects of monastic life shines through in this book. The level of detail is astounding; Donoghue describes everything from making candles from bird fat to preparing inks to creating a cross from stone, and I was fascinated by the various activities. This level of description does slow down the pace of the story considerably but I think that this serves to accentuate the experience of the men on the skellig.

Donoghue excels at creating an atmospheric story, reflecting the starkness and isolation of the skellig and the monks’ struggle to exist there.

A story of uncompromising faith and devotion, Haven will appeal to readers interested in medieval history and spirituality. It was however not for me.

3⭐️ Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the arc in exchange for my honest review. Haven will be released on August 18th.