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A Ghost in the Throat

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A Ghost in the Throat

By: Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Narrated by: Siobhán McSweeney
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About this listen

Nominated for the Desmond Elliot Prize 

A true original. In this stunningly unusual prose debut, Doireann Ní Ghríofa sculpts essay and autofiction to explore inner life and the deep connection felt between two writers centuries apart.

In the 1700s, an Irish noblewoman, on discovering her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his blood and composes an extraordinary poem. Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill s Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, famously referred to by Peter Levi, professor of poetry at Oxford University, as 'the greatest poem written in either Ireland or Britain during the eighteenth century'.

In the present day, a young mother narrowly avoids tragedy. On encountering the poem, she becomes obsessed with its parallels with her own life, and sets out to track down the rest of the story. A Ghost in the Throat is a devastating and timeless tale about one woman freeing her voice by reaching into the past and finding another's.

©2020 Doireann Ní Ghríofa (P)2021 W F Howes Essays Infants & Toddlers Literary History & Criticism Parenting & Families Nonfiction Haunted
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Enjoyed this unique book. The authors honesty, vulnerability and passion shines throughout. A fresh perspective on Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire and homage to Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chinaill. A great " female text".

unique & compelling

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A beautiful stitching together of a woman, a mother, a writer and a wife with her quest to recognise the voice and being of one that has been lost to the shadow.

Beautiful

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I feel that this is a book that benefits from being an audiobook. I loved the narration. I was surprised how engrossed I got in the tales interwoven and the stories of the lives through time

Captivating and beautifully narrated

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This is something very different. Lyrically beautiful and interesting parallels with life of a mum to young kids. I found the pace slow at times and content more of a historical text.

Lyrically beautiful

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I’m bereft now that this audiobook has ended.
I learned about Daniel O’Connell in school but took little heed, grew up close to Raleigh House and The Gearagh but never considered the rich tapestry of lives of the women around him.
My only concern is the almost obsessive focus on breastfeeding. Would this alienate someone who was unable or unwilling to breastfeed?

Stunning

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