Eason Novel of the Year

Shortlist 2024

Seaborne by Nuala O'Connor

Seaborne

By Nuala O'Connor

Bestselling and award-winning Irish author, Nuala O’Connor, returns with the intimate and thrilling portrayal of the life of 18th-century Irishwoman, Anne Bonny.

1703, Kinsale, County Cork. Anne Coleman is the illegitimate child of a local lawyer and his maid; disguised as ‘Anthony’ to protect reputations, the mask suits Anne just fine. But, fixated on boats and the sea, she struggles to fit in, and her devoted mother fears for her fiercely independent and impulsive daughter.

When their secrets are exposed, the family emigrates to the new colony of Carolina, but this fresh start will bring devastating loss and stifling responsibilities. Lonely and transgressive, Anne finds comfort only with Bedelia, servant and intimate friend. But her craving for the sea-wandering life and a misjudged marriage to young Gabriel Bonny will compel Anne to take to the sea again, this time around the islands of the Caribbean, famous for plunder and piracy.

Adventure, passion and freedom await, but so do violence and disappointment. And, as she tries to stay true to herself, her hopes and her few precious friendships, Anne Bonny must also face her own privilege and the sacrifices required for enduring love.

Seaborne is the thrilling and sensuous portrait of a young woman out of step with her time and place, but never her heart.

About Nuala O'Connor...

NUALA O’CONNOR is a novelist, short story writer and poet, and lives in Co. Galway with her family. Nuala holds a BA in Irish from Trinity College Dublin and a Masters in Translation Studies (Irish/English) from Dublin City University. She is the author of five previous novels, including Nora (New Island & Harper Perennial, 2021), Becoming Belle (2018) and Miss Emily (2015), and six short story collections, her most recent being Joyride to Jupiter (New Island, 2017). She has won many prizes for her short fiction, including the Francis MacManus Award, the James Joyce Quarterly Fiction Contest and the UK’s Short Fiction Journal Prize.

Nuala’s work has also been nominated for numerous prizes including the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the International Dublin Literary Award. Nora was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award, RTÉ Audience Choice Award and named as a Top 10 2021 historical novel by the New York TimesNora was also the One Dublin One Book choice for 2022. Nuala curated the 2022 exhibition at MoLI, ‘—Love, Says Bloom’, on the Joyce family, for #Ulysses100. She is editor-in-chief at flash e-zine Splonk.

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