I have definitely never read a book with this premise before. Jay (or Jacinta) is an Irish woman living in London when she finds out that her brother, who was training to be a priest when he died in his mid-20s, is being considered for canonisation. Another notch in my accidental Irish lit binge, and also quite appropriate reading after watching Conclave! The thing I appreciated most about this book was how readable it was: I basically read it in two sittings over two days, and the story was always absorbing. I wasn't brought up Catholic, although a lot of my family were – with this, I think I missed some of the nuance of the discussions about religion, but I always found them interesting.

I loved Ordinary Saints! All the classic ingredients of a beautiful, reflective family drama about grief, religion and queerness are made fresh with the unique plot addition of a dead brother in line for Catholic sainthood. Beautiful writing, believable characters and a story that carries you along. I will definitely be looking out for more from this debut author in future.

Jesus Christ this is good!

It took just a couple of pages for me to realise this was something special and the rest of the book just confirmed it.

Jacintas beloved brother Ferdia was set to be a priest when he died in Rome. Years later she is still struggling to come to terms with his death and news of his application for sainthhood only bring everything to the surface once more

Queer, living in London and more or less estranged from the church and her parents in Ireland, Jay struggles with memories of her brother, inherent catholic guilt and her parents' reaction to the possibility of Ferdias sainthood.

I was raised Catholic and now like Jacinta have moved far away from the Church. My Irish mum though is devout. She is named for Maria Goretti (who features briefly in the book) so much of Jacinta's upbringing, feelings and experiences hit so true.

It’s a story looking at identity, loss, grief, guilt and the lasting impact of childhood.

I was fascinated to learn more about the process of canonisation and the fact that so many people are made saints in this day and age - 942 by the current Pope alone!

The writing is blindingly good - insightful, poetic and humorous. A stellar debut. I'm already greedy for Niamhs next book

The tagline of this book - 'The lesbian sister of a literal saint' - was already enough to take me in completely, but this reading experience was so much more than the synopsis suggested.

Our main character, Jay, has escaped the claustrophobia of her Irish Catholic household to busy and vibrant London, where she doesn't have to correct people for calling her Jacinta, and most importantly, she doesn't have to talk about the canonisation cause of her dead older brother. But Jay cannot keep this part of her life hidden forever, and soon she is forced to confront her past, and her relationship with the Church which has let her down.

This is a debut novel for the ages. Ordinary Saints is overflowing with sarcasm and nostalgia, punctuated with poignant reflections about grief which hit you like a truck when you least expect it. Ní Mhaoileoin embarks on a fearless dissection of the Church's role in an apparently 'changing Ireland', so grounded in the dark realities of Catholicism that I found myself running to Wikipedia crying 'That can't be true!' with every chapter.

I would implore anyone to read this book when it is released - or before if you can - and I cannot wait to shove it into the hands of every customer who comes into the bookshop when we get it in.

A compelling, tragicomic portrait of grief, faith, and family ties.
The writing is luminous, and the non-linear structure perfectly mimics the operation of memory. I was totally drawn into her emotional journey, as well as fascinated by the insight into the bizarre world of canonisation. Although it is, on one level, a story about losing faith, for me it felt pervaded by the gentle blessings of Jay's brother Ferdia. Her memories reveal him to be flawed - ordinary - and yet those memories lead to healing in the family in a way that speaks of... well, of saintliness.
This is a book that's going to stay with me, and have an impact on my relationship with myself and my past.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier for the arc.
I requested this book from NetGalley because I thought it had a really intriguing description, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The story of Jay (previously known as Jacinta after one of the three child visionaries of Fatima), brought up in a devout Catholic family in Ireland and now living with her girlfriend in London, who finds out her (deceased) elder brother may be made into a Catholic Saint. This was a gripping story of family ties, found family, grief, queer identity and the impact of religion/belief on individuals and society. Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin has such an assured and confident way of writing that it is difficult to believe this is their debut novel. The writing is sublime, in turns touching, and at other times imbued with such dark humour that I snort laughed in public! My only (ever so slight) niggle is that the frequent jumping around the story timeline was, on occasion, slightly confusing as it wasn’t always obvious (at least in the e-arc I had access to) that the time frame had moved until you were a few sentences into the new section.
A confident and moving account and highly recommended.

The debut novel by an Edinburgh based Irish author - early drafts of which won the inaugural PFD Queer Fiction Prize 2022 and were shortlisted for the Women's Prize Trust/Curtis Brown Discoveries Prize 2022.

And while dealing with two common themes in recent literary fiction – queer coming out stories (particularly in traditional and/or religious families), and the influence of the Catholic church on Irish society – it does so in a very distinctive, I would say unique, way.

It was one though that rather left me nonplussed but for reasons that were much more me than the author.

The opening two sentences, told to us by our first party narrator Jay (still known by her parents as her birth name Jacinta – named after one of the three girls at Fatima) sets the scene for much of the novel: “The first time I kissed a girl my brother died. I was sixteen and at a party in a big house overlooking Dublin Bay. My brother was in Rome, studying to be a priest.”

The novel is narrated by her thirteen years later, living in London where she now lives, works in a creative marketing agency, has a group of good friends (who she has deliberately told little about her family) and about to start a relationship (with Lindsay – the friend of a work colleague), she gets a call from her father – saying that her brother (who died in a freak accident) is at the starting point of the process for being made a Saint.

And from there the story examines how this impacts Jay, causing her to re-examine her past, her relationship with her family (who while aware of her sexuality have never really come to terms with it or openly acknowledged it) including her mother’s often unacknowledged depression during much of her childhood and her father’s absences on work, her relation with a church she no longer believes in (and which rejects her lifestyle as unbiblical – an additional complexity here is a close friend of her brother’s who was directly involved in the accident but is now himself in a gay relationship), and even her last interactions with her brother (whose strong attachment to the Catholic church was increasingly distancing her as a 16 year old and whose last moments she missed).

All of this while the process of canonisation begins and is described in detail.

Now I am a very strong Christian but from an evangelical (and for the last 25 years Charismatic) Protestant background (not that I would normally use that last term). A very close friend at University was a very devout Catholic – even living in a priory for some of his time at Cambridge – and I found it fascinating learning from him about Catholicism and even studying The Catechism of the Catholic Church – and was truck by how different the carefully argued. long developed traditionally held rather rigid views of pure Catholicism are from the compromises/fudges/left to conscience/not really discussed aspects more common to say Church of England theology. In many ways strict Catholicism and strict Charismatic Christianity have much in common – both holding strictly to biblical doctrine and being slow to compromise/adjust to changing societal views on liberal matters.

And so a book which examines a traditional church’s views on sexuality – both rejecting them but also with deep insight into church matters – would be of great interest t me

But if there are two areas where there is a big difference – and also where I cannot really understand the Catholic position it is in Marian devotion and in praying to Saints (and even more so the designation of saints) – and the book is largely based around these, hence my seeming inability to connect with the book on the very aspect (Christianity) where I would expect to connect the most.

So a very different book and one really well written but which did not work for me.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book, and it changed my life entirely. As a queer person growing up, and coming of age in Ireland, I was left awestruck by this story. Despite never following religion with my family, the catholicism that comes with being Irish is something that often plays on my mind, often filling me with a guilt that feels second nature with simply holding an Irish passport. But this story took that narrative and really explored the escapism that can come from leaving this world behind, whilst also reminding us how easy it is to fall back into it's grip.

I started reading this when I was mid assignment season, and my progress was slow. But I managed to fly through 80% of this story in one sitting, the characters so likeable that I couldn't put it down. I needed to know where Jay would end up, what her life looked like in the before and after of Ferdia. This story, whilst dealing with heavy topics of mourning, religious guilt, Irish history, and homophobia, also managed to be hilarious in parts. I found myself laughing almost as much as I found myself crying.

My only complaint is that I don't have a physical copy of the book, but upon release date I'll be first in line; in fact, for anything Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin publishes, I'll be first in line! I'm in awe of this story, and their work.

Ordinary Saints

Niamh Ni Mhailcoin has written a triumph of a debut novel. Stepping away from your classic coming of age story, we instead rally around the pre- and post death of her brother, and her family’s decision to begin the process for getting him canonised. Such a rich subject matter allows for all the intricate pains of growing up queer, moving away from home, and trying to forge out a life in your 20s, but with the backdrop of the catholic church’s indelible impact on Irish youth, and the feeling of always being second fiddle in your own family.
Ni Mhailcoin’s razor sharp observations of family dynamics, the pregnant pauses that say so much more than words, left me broken hearted regularly. She weaves the Irish culture for secret keeping so deftly into the small moments that it moves outside of the cliches into every conversation, weighed down with the unsaid.
The writing has a familiar cadence of a dryly humorous internal monologue, but it’s also dense with really beautiful reflective prose that had me jotting down quote after quote.
Ultimately, this book spoke exactly to all the things I love to read about; religion, queerness, Ireland, growing up, and it did so in a brand new way.

I hadn’t read anything like this before, and was drawn into the story of a young woman whose Catholic upbringing, and older brother’s posthumous sainthood, is at odds with her life as a lesbian. I learned a lot about Catholicism, and it made me reflect on family and relationships and how we can be true to ourselves only if we share our differences and learn to love each other. The characters were all well rounded and believable, especially the relationship between Jay and her brother Ferdia, who was not quite the man she thought he was as they were growing up. This was a moving story, made all the more emotional for knowing it’s based in part on the author’s own personal experiences.

Absolutely dazzling. I found a real, emotional and genuine connection to to Jay through my own experience with Catholicism. The impending canonisation of Ferdia opens the gates for some really interesting discussions on grief, identity, family (specifically navigating a complex mother and daughter relationships) and faith. Perfectly paced, brilliantly executed and packs a real emotional punch.

I loved this imaginative and witty debut novel, the story follows Jay who grew up in a Conservative Catholic household and a family she has a somewhat strained relationship with both due to her sexuality and the loss of her brother at a young age who their parents are now working to Canonise as a Saint. The writing is self-assured and emotionally complex as it explores themes of grief, religion and family connection.

"Ordinary Saints" is like nothing I've read before.

To start, its premise is incredibly unique. It follows Jay, a lesbian who has deconstructed her Catholic background, as she grapples with the possibility of her dead brother being canonized as a saint. The author's writing style was amazing, and I loved how the narrative weaved between memories and the current timeline. The novel was a masterfully constructed take on religion, family, and grief. Overall, I would highly recommend this book.

What a fantastic book! Really unique story which follows Jay, a lesbian woman who grew up in a devout Catholic family whose brother died while training to be a priest. Her family is attempting to make him a saint.

The writing is just incredible, there were so many sentences that made me smile, like how her brother’s body is ‘weighed down by a lasagne of woolen blankets’ or how the church ‘seized control of the means of saintly production’.

At the same time it deals with grief in an incredibly tender way, exploring how it's complicated by Jay’s relationship with both her family and religion. Catholicism is also explored in a really nuanced way that doesn’t let it off the hook for the harm it's done, but also shows how nostalgic and comforting parts of it feel.

I love how it explores the impact a culture of silence, shame, and secrecy has had on Jay, her parents, and her relationships. And how conflict is avoided but at the expense of being able to form deeper relationships.

I do feel like maybe the last 10% or so felt a bit out of place, it kept jumping forward in time to show how things resolved, which I appreciated, but I think it didn’t work as well for me compared to the even pacing of the rest of the book. And I also feel like some bits, like her day job, felt a bit underdeveloped compared to other strands. That being said, this is such an excellent debut all around and I think it’s really successful with what it’s trying to do.

This reminded me in part of Evenings and Weekends which I read last year and also really enjoyed, but it’s also such a unique story in and of itself, I really recommend checking this out when it is released.

One of those books I just knew I was going to love after only a few pages. For a debut the prose is so self assured and conveys such a clear understanding of what the book is doing. It’s a book fundamentally about religion that neither condemns it nor supports it but so thoughtfully considers the ways in which it has affected the relationships between Jay and her family over time and through their grief. I found it very touching while also not being too heavy despite the subject matter - ultimately it’s quite a hopeful and funny book which gives so much space and kindness/understanding to each of its characters. Reminded me a little of Transcedent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi in terms of themes and how much I liked the book.

Easy five stars for this one. It is honestly a bit of a mad premise - Jacinta, who goes by Jay, is a thirty-something Irish woman, a lesbian who lives in East London and works in marketing. Her very pious Irish family has decided to campaign, thirteen years after his death, for her older brother Ferdia to become a saint, after he died in Rome while training to be a priest.

But if you're on board with the plot, it is very very good. The chapters are quick and short, which makes the story, despite its several timelines and flashbacks, feel dynamic and energetic. The main character's feelings for her parents religion and their attitude to her are examined carefully and intelligently. Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin has done an excellent job capturing the way the Irish can at times both exude warmth and kindness while making it clear that you are Other, and that you just don't blend in enough. You feel the oppression of the family's questions and curiosity, their quiet disapproval when they remain polite. And if course the grief of a young person's death and the way their edges blur and it is amplified with Ferdia, described as a holy child who spent his free time at church or at the bedside of the dying, and who after death is suspected of a miracle.

I really loved this and I am so glad I picked it when it came up on Netgalley.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Sometimes I know that I'm going to love a book from the very first line, and that's very much what happened for me with Ordinary Saints.

Jay escaped from her very Catholic, very conservative Irish upbringing in her early 20s, free to live an openly queer life away from her family, which has been irreparably fractured since the sudden death of her older brother, Ferdia, when she was 16 and he was only 24. Unlike Jay, Ferdia took to Catholicism like a duck to water and was living in Rome, training to be a priest, when he was killed in a freak accident. With no hope of living up to her brother when he was alive, let alone now that he's dead, Jay has managed to build a life for herself in London. Now older than her brother ever got to be, Jay is forced to face her feelings - about Catholicism, her parents, and her brother - when her mother and father announce the process is being set in motion for Ferdia to be canonised as a saint.

What I appreciate most about this novel is while it's certainly laced with that dark humour the Irish are famous for, it would have been so easy to turn this story into a farcical comedy and Ní Mhaoileoin never lets it stray that way. Like Jay, we're forced to think seriously about what sainthood really means and what it really entails—how it leads to Jay having nightmares about her brother being dug up, and conversations around the nature of belief and commemoration.

For Jay, it means finally having to tell her friends - and her partner, Lindsay - about Ferdia at all, whom she's kept secret because her feelings around him and his loss are still too complicated for her to parse through. On the one hand Jay adored him, and there were some delightful memories interspersed throughout that made it clear she was one of the only people who treated Ferdia like a normal boy when he was alive, but on the other she can't help feeling bitter about how much their parents favoured him. Particularly their mother, who had almost become a nun herself in her youth and still clung strongly to her faith, to the point where she seemed to live vicariously through her son.

No one is right or wrong here, though, and I appreciated the many shades of grey woven throughout this story. You can't help but feel Jay's frustrations with her family, and particularly her parents—yet her parents also lived through a lot, at a time when asking for help wasn't the done thing, so while they certainly made mistakes, they're still characters we completely understand. I loved the way Jay's mother was handled, in particular.

I don't want to say much else, because this isn't really a book where a huge amount happens, but it's a stellar debut, and will be a particularly cathartic read for anyone queer who has grown up with religion, or had religious family, that has made them want to hide a part of themselves. And it does all of that that while still being not exactly hopeful, but certainly human.

"Ordinary Saints" is an utterly captivating book, dealing effortlessly with faith, family and queer identity. Despite never having a deceased brother be considered for a sainthood, Ní Mhaoileoin makes grief and pathos so heartbreakingly familiar, I could not stop myself from devouring this book and falling in love with Jay. An extraordinary debut from what is already one of this generation's best queer Irish voices.

I want to run around pressing copies of Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin’s debut novel 'Ordinary Saints' into people's hands and demanding that they start reading it right away. It's book that is both deeply emotionally engaging and profoundly thought provoking.

The protagonist, Jay, who was raised in a devout Catholic household in Ireland, is currently living with her girl friend in London. Her life is turned upside down when she finds out that her older brother, Ferdia, is being considered for canonisation.

Ní Mhaoileoin's prose is clear and well-judged, and her story telling economical. Each of the characters earns their place and gets their due in a way that is deeply satisfying. I cried and laughed. A world I knew nothing about was opened up to me - and by the end, I wanted to pick up the phone and share all the things I'd learnt about the process of canonisation with someone.

For queer readers there is a particular pleasure here in the examination of family, faith, identity and sexuality. The family dynamics and domestic detail is particularly poignantly rendered. The changing fortunes of the Catholic church in a modern Ireland are explored with maturity and respect, as well as healthy irreverence. The book is imbued with an intelligent queer sensibility that manages to be joyful even whilst taking an unflinching look at grief and loss, and a deep reckoning for Jay with 'what is.'

There is so much to get your teeth into here, personal, political and spiritual. It's a cracking great read; and one that stays with your long after you turn the last page. I hope this book gets all the love it deserves. And I can't wait to read Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin's next book.

A queer girl has very mixed feelings when she discovers that her dead brother, a trainee priest, may become a saint. Family, sexuality, grief in a wonderful book.