Girl in the Making
A powerful coming of age novel of girlhood in a world not made for girls
Published on 21. March 2024
288 pages
978-1-84488-649-4 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the John McGahern Prize for Fiction 2025
A Guardian 'Best Fiction of 2024' Selection
'Captured in careful, accurate detail ... a novel of concealment and shocking revelation. Fitzgerald has managed to create an unforgettable heroine and a dark picture of the world around her.' Colm Toibin
'Devastating' Anne Enright
'A gifted writer' Irish Times
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Jean Kennedy is a gentle, perceptive girl growing up in a very strange world: suburban Dublin in the 1970s and '80s. In the company of her mother, her Aunty Ida, and her little brother Baby John F., Jean experiences love and joy. But home is not a safe place, and Jean is unequal and unprotected. When she speaks just one small part of the truth, she must quickly learn to navigate the dangers and possibilities of a world she scarcely understands.
Jean's hypnotic, unsparing and ultimately hopeful voice captures the dreams and terrors of girlhood in a brutally hypocritical world, and offers glimpses of a better life. Through it all, Jean's voice pulsates with insight and passion. Girl in the Making is a deeply moving, propulsive coming-of-age story from a major new talent.
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'Beautiful' Louise Nealon
'Magnificent' Aingeala Flannery
'Masterful' Kathleen MacMahon
'Deeply moving and beautifully written ... Fitzgerald's prose has a crispness and a depth that surprises and delights' Irish Times
'Tender and perceptive ... simply unforgettable' Irish Examiner
'Reminiscent of the work of Tessa Hadley and Elena Ferrante' Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
'Devastating and superb' Irish Independent
A Guardian 'Best Fiction of 2024' Selection
'Captured in careful, accurate detail ... a novel of concealment and shocking revelation. Fitzgerald has managed to create an unforgettable heroine and a dark picture of the world around her.' Colm Toibin
'Devastating' Anne Enright
'A gifted writer' Irish Times
---
Jean Kennedy is a gentle, perceptive girl growing up in a very strange world: suburban Dublin in the 1970s and '80s. In the company of her mother, her Aunty Ida, and her little brother Baby John F., Jean experiences love and joy. But home is not a safe place, and Jean is unequal and unprotected. When she speaks just one small part of the truth, she must quickly learn to navigate the dangers and possibilities of a world she scarcely understands.
Jean's hypnotic, unsparing and ultimately hopeful voice captures the dreams and terrors of girlhood in a brutally hypocritical world, and offers glimpses of a better life. Through it all, Jean's voice pulsates with insight and passion. Girl in the Making is a deeply moving, propulsive coming-of-age story from a major new talent.
-----
'Beautiful' Louise Nealon
'Magnificent' Aingeala Flannery
'Masterful' Kathleen MacMahon
'Deeply moving and beautifully written ... Fitzgerald's prose has a crispness and a depth that surprises and delights' Irish Times
'Tender and perceptive ... simply unforgettable' Irish Examiner
'Reminiscent of the work of Tessa Hadley and Elena Ferrante' Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
'Devastating and superb' Irish Independent
Reviews / Votes
Anna Fitzgerald works through the eyes of a growing child, in a voice that is rich in nostalgic effect and devastating in its content, to show the Dublin suburbs as we have not seen them before. -- Anne Enright Girl in the Making is a beautiful story that captures the wisdom of childhood. Open this book and step into the world of Jean Kennedy. Prepare to be quietly transformed. -- Louise Nealon Fitzgerald has a voice that's completely her own, writing with such power and control it's hard to believe this is her debut. Girl in the Making is magnificent. -- Aingeala Flannery Writing this good is a rare thing. Anna Fitzgerald's account of childhood and family in 1970s and '80s Dublin is a masterful portrait of a place in time. This writer has arrived fully formed. -- Kathleen MacMahon Nostalgic, rich, intimate and authentic * Irish Times * There is a poignant mix of insight and innocence that harks back to O'Briens The Country Girls -- Sarah Gilmartin * Irish Times * This novel is devastating. And superb' -- Anne Cunnigham * Irish Independent *More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Ireland
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Edition type
New edition
File size
2,62 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-84488-649-4 (9781844886494)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Anna Fitzgerald was born and raised in Dublin. Girl in the Making is her first novel.
