Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year

Shortlist 2025

Sugartown

By Caragh Maxwell

Leaving home wasn’t supposed to be temporary. But after her five-year relationship goes south, Saoirse realises she’s out of options. And so she finds herself trudging back to her mother Máire’s house, and her three younger sisters, all hidden up a side road on the outskirts of Irish civilisation.

But just as Saoirse arrives reluctantly back home, everyone else seems to be moving on. Fortunately, she’s got parties, drugs, and an entirely-healthy-not-problematic-at-all-thanks relationship with Charlie to distract her. Don’t look too closely and it’s all fine. Saoirse is fine.

Except somehow, her old coping mechanisms aren’t cutting it this time around. Saoirse might finally have to confront the fear she’s been running from for so long: how can you make peace with the worst parts of yourself when you’re afraid that the worst of yourself is all that you are?

About Caragh Maxwell...

Caragh Maxwell is a writer living in Sligo town. She graduated from the Trinity College MPhil in Creative Writing in 2023, and her essays, poems and stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Cormorant and other publications. Her writing focuses on the self, memory, and womanhood. Sugartown is her debut novel.

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