The Outsider
Published on 2. July 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-4736-8112-5 (ISBN)
Description
'A brilliant blend of sweeping satisfying family drama with a tense undercurrent of psychological thriller that hooks on and doesn't let go until [Hourican] delivers her last devastating page' Sunday Independent
'The Outsider is everything you could want from high-end commercial fiction - it's sharp, compelling, and full of keenly observed truths about human behaviour. Emily Hourican has always been an insightful, astute writer but this may be her best novel yet.' Louise O'Neill
Two very different families ...
One is loud, eccentric, rich and confident.
The other is less sure of their place in life.
On holidays in Portugal, a near-drowning brings the ten-year-old daughters, Jamie and Sarah, together and a friendship is formed.
As the bond between the girls grows deeper, so too do the ties between their families and an unsettling closeness develops between two of the adults.
Then, as Jamie begins to feel suffocated by the intensity of Sarah's friendship, cracks begin to show.
What will it take to shatter the facade of friendship? The affair? The obsessive crush? And which family will be left whole?
The Outsider is the compelling and unforgettable story of the complexity of friendship, marriage, hidden passions and teenage desire.
'The Outsider is everything you could want from high-end commercial fiction - it's sharp, compelling, and full of keenly observed truths about human behaviour. Emily Hourican has always been an insightful, astute writer but this may be her best novel yet.' Louise O'Neill
Two very different families ...
One is loud, eccentric, rich and confident.
The other is less sure of their place in life.
On holidays in Portugal, a near-drowning brings the ten-year-old daughters, Jamie and Sarah, together and a friendship is formed.
As the bond between the girls grows deeper, so too do the ties between their families and an unsettling closeness develops between two of the adults.
Then, as Jamie begins to feel suffocated by the intensity of Sarah's friendship, cracks begin to show.
What will it take to shatter the facade of friendship? The affair? The obsessive crush? And which family will be left whole?
The Outsider is the compelling and unforgettable story of the complexity of friendship, marriage, hidden passions and teenage desire.
Reviews / Votes
An exquisite evocation of childhood and adolescence, riven with a dark underbelly in [this book] will resonate with readers ... fresh and full of well-drawn characters, The Outsider is almost impossible to put down - Irish IndependentAn atmospheric sizzler - The Gloss magazine
A brilliant blend of sweeping satisfying family drama with a tense undercurrent of psychological thriller that hooks on and doesn't let go until [Hourican] delivers her last devastating page - Sunday Independent
Compelling, almost hypnotic in its storytelling ... with plenty to sink your teeth into, The Outsider by Emily Hourican is a haunting story about friendship, relationships, and the pressure to be something to everyone, and I highly recommend it. - Books of All Kinds
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Castleknock
Ireland
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
280 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4736-8112-5 (9781473681125)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Emily Hourican is the author of nine novels and one book of non-fiction. Her first novel, The Privileged, was published in 2016, became an instant bestseller, and was short-listed for the Best Popular Fiction Award at the Irish Book Awards that year. She then published three more works of contemporary fiction, the last of which, The Outsider, is being developed as a six-part TV series with Treasure Films, with Emily as screenwriter, supported by Screen Ireland.
In 2019 she began writing historical fiction, and has since published four acclaimed, best-selling historical novels based on the Guinness and Kennedy families.
Emily is also an award-winning editor and journalist with the Sunday Independent,
Ireland's biggest-selling newspaper.
In 2019 she began writing historical fiction, and has since published four acclaimed, best-selling historical novels based on the Guinness and Kennedy families.
Emily is also an award-winning editor and journalist with the Sunday Independent,
Ireland's biggest-selling newspaper.