This Must Be the Place
The Sunday Times Bestseller from the Author of Hamnet
Published on 27. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
512 pages
978-1-0354-3011-6 (ISBN)
Description
The Sunday Times no. 3 bestselling novel from author of HAMNET and THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT
*Over 330,000 copies sold*
Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award
'A complex, riveting novel of love and hope that grips at the heart' The Sunday Times
_____
A reclusive former film star living in the wilds of Ireland, Claudette Wells thinks nothing of firing a gun if strangers get too close to her house. Why is she so fiercely protective of her family, and what made her walk out on her career at the height of her fame?
Her husband Daniel, reeling from a discovery about a woman he last saw twenty years ago, is about to make an exit of his own. It is a journey that will send him off-course, far from home. Will his love for Claudette be enough to bring him back?
This Must Be The Place crosses continents and time zones, creating a portrait of an extraordinary marriage, the forces that hold it together and the pressures that drive it apart.
______
'Moving and hilarious. I loved it' Rachel Joyce
'A tour de force. Dazzling' Observer
'A conjuror's sleight of hand... deft and compelling' Guardian
'Magnificent... perceptive, profound and page-turning in equal measures' Cathy Rentzenbrink
_____
? What readers are saying; ?
'One of the few books in my adult life I've read more than once... cannot recommend enough' ? ? ? ? ?
'Perfect to lose yourself in' ? ? ? ? ?
'A wonderful novel which held me captivated and in awe' ? ? ? ? ?
*Over 330,000 copies sold*
Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award
'A complex, riveting novel of love and hope that grips at the heart' The Sunday Times
_____
A reclusive former film star living in the wilds of Ireland, Claudette Wells thinks nothing of firing a gun if strangers get too close to her house. Why is she so fiercely protective of her family, and what made her walk out on her career at the height of her fame?
Her husband Daniel, reeling from a discovery about a woman he last saw twenty years ago, is about to make an exit of his own. It is a journey that will send him off-course, far from home. Will his love for Claudette be enough to bring him back?
This Must Be The Place crosses continents and time zones, creating a portrait of an extraordinary marriage, the forces that hold it together and the pressures that drive it apart.
______
'Moving and hilarious. I loved it' Rachel Joyce
'A tour de force. Dazzling' Observer
'A conjuror's sleight of hand... deft and compelling' Guardian
'Magnificent... perceptive, profound and page-turning in equal measures' Cathy Rentzenbrink
_____
? What readers are saying; ?
'One of the few books in my adult life I've read more than once... cannot recommend enough' ? ? ? ? ?
'Perfect to lose yourself in' ? ? ? ? ?
'A wonderful novel which held me captivated and in awe' ? ? ? ? ?
Reviews / Votes
A tour de force, a complex and nuanced story leaping effortlessly across multiple time frames... THIS MUST BE THE PLACE is that rare literary beast, both technically dazzling and deeply moving. It has all the structural and temporal playfulness of a Kate Atkinson novel while retaining the hallmark emotional insight for which O'Farrell has become renowned. It is her best novel to date, a book that surely confirms her as one of the UK's most assured, accomplished and inventive storytellers * Observer * A symphony of stories and voices... absolutely gripping... A rare talent to enthral... It will leave you bereft and wanting more * Sunday Times * Inventive, moving and hilarious. I loved it Beautifully executed; a graceful, insightful exploration of a relationship in all its wonders and woes * Mail on Sunday * Switching seamlessly between decades, destinations and voices, it's complex in scale, but is carried off with dazzling grace. A rich, engrossing feast of a novel to lose yourself in * Sunday Mirror * A magnificent novel that is perceptive, profound and page-turning in equal measures. There are few things I look forward to like a Maggie O'Farrell novel and she never disappoints There is tragedy in the novel, but also sharp comedy, and O'Farrell, skilful as ever, plays with the novel form... In this rewarding and humane novel, O'Farrell brings alive the destructive effects of petty betrayals that affect everyone every day * Sunday Express * For all that it whizzed about across times zones and continents, it is seamless and each character is fantastic at the next * Metro * A new Maggie O'Farrell book is always a cause for celebration, but her seventh is so brilliant that you'll want to unfurl flags and put up bunting in her honour... Wonderfully written and absolutely addictive * Psychologies Magazine * I haven't read a Maggie O'Farrell novel I didn't love and This Must Be The Place might be her finest work yet... A beautiful, ambitious triumph * Red Magazine * Some books are for lingering over. Every sentence Maggie O'Farrell writes is so perfectly formed that you want to wallow in it. As a writer, she's perceptive, warm and particularly good at the nuances of family relationships. In This Must Be The Place, she casts her sharp but humane eye on a marriage in trouble * Good Housekeeping * Maggie O'Farrell's new novel is beautiful... [an] epic endeavour to build a portrait of a relationship in its whole, contrary and complex plurality... the reader is won over, and rapt * i Newspaper * She has, throughout her career, shown a willingness to experiment with form that many commercially successful writers wouldn't dare to do, as well as a willingness to explore difficult subject matter... epic and intimate * Herald * The result is dazzling, her most accomplished book yet * The National * Her best so far... epic but intimate too * Glamour * Exquisite... exceptionally accomplished and emotionally sophisticated'... 'O'Farrell is tremendously sure-footed at wrong-footing the reader * Scotsman * A complex, riveting novel of love and hope that grips at the heart... It will leave you bereft and wanting more * Sunday Times * One of the most enjoyable and satisfying books of the year * Daily Express * Deftly blurring the lines between holiday read and literary fiction, it's bound for the bestseller lists * Stylist * No character is wasted, no word misspent... The reach is dazzlingly epic, the tone addictively accessible. In awe. * Grazia * Fans will not be disappointed * The Times * O'Farrell's seventh novel is as captivating and as intricately written as her previous offerings * Closer * In the final pages, however, we are allowed to slow right down, to savour the culmination of everything that has come before, and to remember just how gifted a storyteller O'Farrell truly is * Irish Independent * A conjuror's sleight of hand... a deft and compelling chronicler of human relationships * Guardian * This Must Be The Place is her best yet ... At the heart of this smart, structurally interesting but never over-clever novel is the story of a relationship ... If she was a man she'd be Man Booker-shortlisted, as it is she'll have to settle for just being brilliant * The Pool *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
444 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0354-3011-6 (9781035430116)
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
E-Book
05/2016
1st Edition
Tinder Press
€4.99
Available for download
Person
Maggie O'Farrell is the author of HAMNET, Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020, and the memoir I AM, I AM, I AM, both Sunday Times no. 1 bestsellers. Her novels include AFTER YOU'D GONE, MY LOVER'S LOVER, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, which won a Somerset Maugham Award, THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX, THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE, which won the 2010 Costa Novel Award, INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE and THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT, which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize. She is also the author of three books for children, WHERE SNOW ANGELS GO, THE BOY WHO LOST HIS SPARK and WHEN THE STAMMER CAME TO STAY. She lives in Edinburgh.