I couldn’t stop reading this accomplished debut novel. 'Confessions' gets off to a dramatic beginning – New York, September 2001, the day the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre were attacked. And that’s where teenage Cora’s father works. There’s her slow realisation that he won’t be coming home. Help comes from an unexpected quarter – an Aunt Roísín she didn’t know she had, and it’s away to Ireland and a new life.

Rather than following Cora’s fresh start in Ireland, the story switches back to describe two sisters growing up and struggling with the sudden loss of their father. Their mother takes to her bed and the sisters, Maire and Roísín, do their best. Maire is a brilliant artist but has mental health issues. Fortunately there’s Michael who adores her and is like a brother to Roísín. We’re also with Maire when she earns a scholarship to New York and her struggles to fit in with a narrative shift told interestingly in the second person.

Almost like a character in itself is the big old mansion outside the village, once a stately home, that has become a refuge for women seeking an alternative lifestyle. Known as The Screamers, it offers a new chance first to Maire, and later the home for Roísín and the returning young Cora. It is where Cora’s daughter, Lyca, digs into the past and finds some long buried secrets.

In 'Confessions' we have the repeated themes of girls growing up without a father, teen pregnancies, too much freedom or too much restraint. These young women are all smart enough to do well in a world that accepts them for who they are, but it’s going to take more recent generations – Cora, and then Lyca – for that to happen, and a more modern Ireland. But it’s the long buried secrets that keep the reader on their toes to the end. How will they disturb the fragile memories Cora in particular has of her parents?

And the writing is wonderful, finely tuned to each character and allowing them to tell their story, vivid and at times very intense. The setting of New York in particular is an interesting highlight – it comes through as a walker’s city, shown from the ground up, as well as a place of surprising vistas when seen from a high-rise building. The contrast with a small Irish town couldn’t be more stark – the closed-in feel of the early interiors, then Screamers with its warren of rooms.

This is a well put-together story, the threads of the different characters carefully woven in and, at the same time, written from the heart. I was glad to receive this advance reader copy thanks to Netgalley, in return for an honest review. 'Confessions' is due for release late January and a four-and-a-half star read from me.

I felt rather like this novel ate me up and spat me out. At first I was intrigued, then engrossed, confused, curious, fascinated, more confused then engrossed again.

Whilst it is easiest summed up by saying this is a story of three generations of women, that doesn't really get to the guts of the book. It covers Ireland, religion, family, education, New York, unplanned pregnancy, art, travel, womens rights, emigration, madness, AIDS, 9/11, Roe v Wade, Irish abortion vote - to pick out some of the themes.

The reader has to work as the generations use different names for the same cast of characters and individual stories are told from a variety of perspectives and timeframes. These are cross hatched with gaming episodes from their earliest incarnation. It is an impressive novel. Extraordinary.

With thanks to #NetGalley and #PenguinUK for allowing me to read and review

A really perfect novel - not what I was expecting at all. Impeccable writing style with an intriguing story that kept me reading and wanting to know more - I still want to know more about this family. Loved it.

Confessions is a stunning, immersive tale of two Irish sisters, spanning three generations and two continents. It opens in New York City, 2001, and covers Cora's experience of the tragic aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Alone, Cora travels to County Donegal, her parents’ homeland and the antithesis of everything she knows in NYC.

Confessions flits across generations, between the perspectives of young Cora, her aunt Roisin, mother, Maire, and Cora’s own daughter in 2017. It’s an exquisite tale of what-ifs and explores how history is doomed to repeat itself. Although not overtly, reproductive rights are at the core of Confessions, expected considering the backdrop of the ‘70’s, and poignant considering the current political state of the US.

The various mother daughter dynamics were sometimes strained, but always touching. Each of the women were fully fleshed and had distinct personalities, adding to a rich and fulfilling read. I enjoyed how the storylines were framed by the concept of a choose-your-own-adventure video game, tying elements of the women’s lives together, but emphasising that real life is not so black and white: in real life, there is no turning back.

This is a book that is guaranteed to stay with you. A truly gut wrenching read, but worth it.

Hoooookkkked
And then I wasn’t.

I wanted this to be a 5 star and it nearly was but, either I got jumbled up along the way or the book did. I will blame the book.
The story is introduced through a young woman left alone and orphaned after 9/11. The story aka baton is then handed to her mother and we go back in time to a young woman growing up in Ireland. One of two sisters and oh my, she packs a punch with her story. The next sister continues and again; what a story she has to tell.
It was giving me Long Island, The Coast Road vibes and it is a fantastic book. But, I wish the middle and end had clearer character definitions or at least a family tree. I felt very invested in some of the characters and then there were so many all of a sudden that I was left a bit confused but don’t let me put you off. It is a very good book and I am easily confused!

Confessions is a very accomplished debut from Catherine Airey. It is a family saga that originates with two sisters: Róisín and Máire. Both are creative but whilst Róisín seeks connections with those she loves at home, Máire needs space to thrive. She leaves Burtonport, Ireland for New York and the people she meets have long term consequences on her life and those of Cora, her daughter, and Lyca, her granddaughter. We are introduced to these women in different timeframes and the story is told from all their points of view at different stages. It becomes clear that the secrets they keep all impact them in different ways. For me, some plot points were tied up too neatly whilst others were brushed over too lightly but it was still a compulsive read.

Confessions is an impressive debut! Catherine Airey tells the story of two sisters navigating life between Ireland and NYC, weaving in themes of personal choice and redemption. I loved the beginning and the end, though I struggled a bit with the middle—the connections between characters were hard to follow at times but came together nicely in the end. Some heavy topics like 9/11, abortion, and addiction could have been explored more deeply, and I’m not sure the video game element added much to the story. That said, the underlying message about the power of our choices really resonated with me. Four stars, and I’m excited to see what Airey writes next!

Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for my ARC.

Confessions is an absolutely gorgeous debut novel, one which I can't quite believe is a debut. This book hooked me from the first page and I hated every time I had to put it down and go back into reality, I would just keep thinking about it and longing for the next time that I could pick it up. The characters are so vivid and beautifully developed, each one jumps off the page and pulls you into their world with such ease. It's a tense, haunting, emotional, action-packed story which really makes you feel the characters pain and will have you in shock, disbelief, and tears of frustration and hurt. I can see why this is Viking's lead novel for 2025 - the world is going to love this book.

oof, this is a tough one to review. while i really liked the beginning and the ending, i definitely struggled with the middle section; airey’s prose is beautiful, but i think some of the narrative choices were a tad bit questionable. it just felt excessively overt-the-top at times; without entering spoiler territory, i do think the sa could have been handled more carefully and explored in a far more insightful way, as it felt somewhat gratuitous.

as for the characters, i somewhat liked cora, but definitely struggled a lot with máire, who i think could have been a little more developed as a character. i liked michael and i found the exploration of the discrimination he faced as a black irish man quite interesting; róisín was also a very sweet character, and i also ended up liking lyca. overall, i do think there is a lot of merit in crafting such an expansive story of grief, generational trauma, and complex relationships between women; however, i wish it had been done in a more nuanced way, or at least avoiding the more melodramatic parts of the story.

Confessions is set across several decades of recent history, in sections split between New York City and rural Donegal, Ireland. It is told from multiple perspectives, of women in different generations of the same family. It opens memorably on September 11, 2001, with Cora Brady wandering the streets of New York following the attacks, in which it rapidly becomes apparent that her father has died. In an absence of any other surviving family members, we learn that she is to move to Donegal to stay with her aunt Róisín. And that’s the last we hear from Cora for a while, as we first jump back and later forward in time to learn about the stories of her mother, aunt, and later her daughter.

The next section is one of the book’s strongest, focusing on Cora’s mother Máire, who moves to New York in the 1980s, to study. A promising artist, she is disillusioned when her course turns out to be purely History of Art, and following a harrowing incident with the father of a friend, is taken under the wing of a somewhat shady professor who helps her move to an art college. At the same time, though, she is spiralling into a cycle of depression and drugs and isolating herself from old friends and family. Back in Ireland, her sister Róisín is very much the ‘left behind’ family member. She obsesses over Michael, an old family friend whose interest was really in Máire, and with a local building inhabited by an art group known as The Screamers. She’s a character with less direction, although that seems set to change when she forms a friendship and later a relationship with a quirky woman called Scarlett, whose ‘Victorian school’ business is a front for something very much illegal in the Ireland of the time. The book’s later sections are mainly told from the present-day perspective of Cora’s daughter Lyca, who is slowly uncovering the many secrets of the previous generations of her family. A trip to New York with her mother concludes the book, and wraps up some earlier threads.

I enjoyed this rather a lot as a series of really well-executed character studies. The section focusing on Máire is really immersive and powerful, and all the more so when we later learn her eventual fate. The relationships between the characters are also really compelling - aside from the central dynamic between the two sisters (which is largely a dynamic of silence, so interesting in how that plays out) there are little sub-stories that add sparks of interest throughout the book - notably Róisín / Scarlett and the childhood friendship / infatuation dynamic of Lyca and Sanjeet. It’s also a book with a really great sense of place - particularly in the New York sections, where the city very much feels like an additional character.

The same could also be said of the house that is the temporary home of the ‘Screamers’ and later becomes the family home of Lyca, Cora, and ‘Gaga’. It’s certainly an ominous and intriguing presence throughout the book, and its presence adds a note of pleasing strangeness to what might otherwise have been more ‘ordinary’ sections set in Ireland. I did feel, though, that the whole subplot around the Screamers, and the ‘Scream School’ text-based early video game written by one of the characters (it turns out), extracts from which punctuate the novel, felt a little too try-hard in terms of adding some sort of deeper connecting significance between the sections that didn’t quite hang together for me. I found myself seeing these bits as barriers in the way of the far more compelling character-led storytelling that makes up the bulk of the book.

There’s really a huge amount of quality in this, for a debut novel especially. It’s achingly close to being something I would unequivocally love and shout loudly about to anyone listening, but a couple of flaws I think expose it as a debut and not quite the full finished article. In addition to the above, it’s really the book’s conclusion that let it down for me. It’s too contrived, too unlikely a coincidence, and too neatly rounded off (where if left as only a hint it might have just about worked). For me this book has an essential beautiful messiness at it’s heart, and it’s the attempts to tidy up around the edges and give it structure and coherence that don’t quite work. Some things are better left messy.

A really intriguing and in places stunning debut, which deserves (and I think will get) a wide audience. It’s not without its flaws but it’s absolutely worth checking out. (8/10)

I felt a bit indifferent overall by the time I reached the end of this novel. Parts I loved, and other sections I felt dragged and just added nothing to the story. I chat say much than the other reviews have said in terms of story. I know lots of people loved this so it might have just been a case of wrong time, wrong book for me.

Fantastic debut and interesting structure with complex characters. Three generations of women, New York and rural Ireland, this book was very hard to put down!

Confessions by Catherine Airey

Three generations of women from the 1980s to the present day, moving from Ireland to New York and back to Ireland, this book tells the story of lives of sisters Maire and Roisin, and their families.

Wow this book absolutely blew me away - it's my book of the year out of 89 read! In fact it's probably one of my favourite books ever. Epic in all senses of the word it covers multiple characters, generations, timespans and locations in such a clever and fantastic way. A masterpiece! I will be urging everyone I know to read it and hope that it achieves the success it deserves. Can't wait to read what Catherine Airey writes next. Very VERY highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Readers tempted by Penguin UK's stunning cover will be well rewarded. Confessions is an ambitious and impressive debut from Anglo/Irish writer Catherine Airey.
These three generations of women hold secrets which are revealed slowly as the family splinters and rejoins across countries and decades. I can highly recommend this novel about losing parents, the bonds and conflicts between sisters, mother/daughter relationships and the challenges facing women over the last three decades.
Catherine Airey writes confidently and with a compassion towards her characters. I'm keen to see where her literary career goes next.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy to review.

Thank you for the ARC this is an engaging moving heart breaking book that will leave feeling uplifted and thinking. I don't have the words to properly describe this amazing book but what I can say is that it's on top ten reads of this year. Beautifully written spanning over time and told though the most memorable characters. A book that will stay with long after reading

I absolutely loved this book, I couldn’t stop reading it. This boom grabbed me from the start. We follow Cora, on the day of 9/11, and how her father worked there. Cora’s mum has already passed away so she goes to Ireland to Donegal to her aunt (her mum’s sister) who she has never met, the story is told from the points of view of Cora, her mum Máire, her aunt Róisín and then her daughter Lyca. We learn about Máire’s backstory first and how she ended up in NYC and her life there. From there it is the other characters, which spreads over a number of decades. It is a very engaging and well written family saga. I loved the connections between the characters.

Many thanks to the publishers Penguin and Viking, and to Netgalley, for a free review copy in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

I adored this book and am eager to read more from Airey. The interlocking stories of generations of women were fascinating, and I loved the dual settings of New York and Ireland - I thought NYC was particularly well captured. I subtracted one star only because I found that the timelines and connections could get a bit confusing at times.

Absolutely brilliant. From the very first line I was pulled into this family saga set against 20th century Ireland and NYC. The narrative voice was so strong and so compelling - I lost myself to it immediately. Will definitely be recommending.

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. I found it difficult to follow the story of the different characters and what happen to them didn't really reach me emotionally..Thank you Penguin General UK for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

New York, September 2001

"The voices became screams when the North Tower fell too. I turned off the TV and closed my eyes, covered my ears with my hands and thought about how ostriches bury their heads in the sand."

Cora Brady is home alone when live news coverage from the Twin Towers brings with it the realisation that her father won't be coming home. A heartbreaking start that gripped and led me straight into this immersive and beautifully written novel.

Originally from County Donegal in Ireland her mother had come to New York to attend art school and her father a childhood sweetheart had followed some years later. With both parents now dead Cora takes up her aunt Rosin's invitation and travels to Ireland.

Moving back and forth in time between rural Ireland and New York, this multi-generational novel tells of two sisters growing up in the 70's on a farm in rural Ireland, the different paths that led to them being separated by an ocean and the nearby house that had such a big impact on both their lives.

A slow burn, immersive and beautifully descriptive novel of family, friendship, choices and what might have been.