Communion
An Observer Best Debut Novel of 2026
Published on 2. April 2026
288 pages
978-1-80546-515-7 (ISBN)
Description
'Marks the arrival of an explosive new talent' Observer
'Rich and involving and emotionally charged' Guardian
'An immaculate debut with dirt under its fingernails' Colin Walsh, author of Kala
Just so we're clear, she said, I know the rules of confession. What I say cannot be repeated. Not to anyone...
When Mack O'Brien left his home in Port Talbot for the seminary as a teenager, he didn't imagine he'd be back a decade later, unordained and still at a loss as to what makes for a moral life. He takes a job as a security guard at the local steelworks and begins an uneasy transition into the world he once rejected. When the men of the steelworks organise an unprecedented strike in protest against job cuts, he sees no reason not to go along with it.
The last person Mack expects to see in the local club is Siwan Roderick - the woman who appeared out of the blue at the seminary one day to make a confession and swear him to secrecy. Mack kept his word. But as the day of the strike nears, and as he begins to fully understand what Siwan is planning, Mack is forced to reckon with his loyalty to her and the question of whether an act of violence can ever be justified.
'A rare novel ... This is poignant, resounding writing'
Cynan Jones, author of Pulse
'Each paragraph arrives like a short, beautiful breath'
Andrew McMillan, author of Pity
'Electric'
Kasim Ali, author of Good Intentions
'Rich and involving and emotionally charged' Guardian
'An immaculate debut with dirt under its fingernails' Colin Walsh, author of Kala
Just so we're clear, she said, I know the rules of confession. What I say cannot be repeated. Not to anyone...
When Mack O'Brien left his home in Port Talbot for the seminary as a teenager, he didn't imagine he'd be back a decade later, unordained and still at a loss as to what makes for a moral life. He takes a job as a security guard at the local steelworks and begins an uneasy transition into the world he once rejected. When the men of the steelworks organise an unprecedented strike in protest against job cuts, he sees no reason not to go along with it.
The last person Mack expects to see in the local club is Siwan Roderick - the woman who appeared out of the blue at the seminary one day to make a confession and swear him to secrecy. Mack kept his word. But as the day of the strike nears, and as he begins to fully understand what Siwan is planning, Mack is forced to reckon with his loyalty to her and the question of whether an act of violence can ever be justified.
'A rare novel ... This is poignant, resounding writing'
Cynan Jones, author of Pulse
'Each paragraph arrives like a short, beautiful breath'
Andrew McMillan, author of Pity
'Electric'
Kasim Ali, author of Good Intentions
Reviews / Votes
Brimming with big themes - faith, masculinity, activism. Tense and absorbing * Observer, Best Debuts of 2026 * There is also Doyle's exquisite way with words, his mastery of the small details that place you in the setting ... I was transported at times to rooms from my childhood, no small feat. * The Irish Times * Communion splices lyrical language and dreamlike sequences with blunt, commonplace violence and some exhilarating action [...] Doyle has a keen sense for the kinds of memorable, cinematic images which this unique project of the town's Passion play affords him as a writer and he does not waste them. One to watch. * Shortlist, Best New Fiction Books for Spring 2026 * Gritty and luminous, intelligent and sincere, a radical and transgressive novel in which the profane, the political and the personal are entirely rooted in the sacred. Communion is both tender and confrontational, an immaculate debut with dirt under its fingernails * Colin Walsh, author of Kala * A precise, delicate novel about the complexities of belonging, which gradually and powerfully builds in spiritual intensity ... In prose both quotidian and mystical, Communion expands the possibilities of its title in every dimension and marks the arrival of an explosive new talent. * The Observer * A book of rare grace and presence, Communion transported me from its opening pages. It is a deeply moving novel about faith, doubt and morality, held firm by a steady beat of love * Megan Hunter, author of Days of Light * A highly original book that strips back the traditional architecture of the novel until each paragraph arrives like a short, beautiful breath, and in the silences between, the true voices of Port Talbot are able to sing through. A thrilling evocation of a community * Andrew McMillan, author of Pity * A rare novel. Communion bears witness to quiet accumulating impacts, a tolling, calling out the fundamental question, what happens when the things at the centre of what we try to believe in gutter out, one by one? This is poignant, resounding writing. * Cynan Jones, author of Pulse * Electric... A wonderful, brilliant piece of work. Just brilliant. This is someone with a voice, with something to say, with a natural talent * Kasim Ali, author of Good Intentions * A startling interrogation of class identity, Catholicism and masculinity. It questions whether community binds or blinds us, asking what it means to speak against the people and places we come from when the fabric of such places is under threat. This timely, prescient novel asks how communities might nourish us, and when they begin to cut us off from the wider world * Jessica Andrews, author of Milk Teeth * Jon Doyle is a great new voice - and an important one. His work is real in the very best sense: exactly observed, often funny and unafraid of the greatest themes * Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen and Addlands * A tantalising debut that talks about subjects that most contemporary fiction studiously avoids: faith, working-class identity, the question of how to live a moral, meaningful life... Mysterious and beguiling * Daily Mail *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
File size
0,46 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-80546-515-7 (9781805465157)
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
Book
04/2026
Atlantic Books
€42.29
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Person
Jon Doyle is a writer based in Port Talbot, South Wales. He was part of Literature Wales' Representing Wales scheme in 2022/23, and won the Writers & Artists Working-Class Writers' Prize 2023. He holds a BSc and MRes in Zoology, an MA in Creative Writing from Cardiff University, and a PhD in Creative Writing from Swansea University. His work has appeared in Short Fiction, Hobart, Ploughshares Online, The Rumpus, 3:AM Magazine, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction among other places. Communion is his first novel.
