"Phil doesn't like physical affection. She doesn't love you because you don't exist. She doesn't care if you have something important coming up. A busy week, a daunting appointment, a divorce, because she believes the world is going to end in the morning. Every morning."

Having grown up visiting her grandmother in various psychiatric hospitals, Molly Hennigan began writing about the gaps in and intimacies of her relationship with this matriarch. Tracing the organic path of her grandmother's experience to her great-grandmother's time in Irish mental hospitals, she explores her own family trauma and what it means to be an unconventional woman in a society that values conformity.

A young woman's exploration of intergenerational trauma and the devastating effects of mental ill health brings her to new realisations and hope for the future.

About the Author
Molly Hennigan was born in 1994 in Dublin. Her work has been published in The Stinging Fly, Banshee, Tolka and The Pig's Back. She lives in Galway. This is her first collection of essays.

Reviews
''In The Celestial Realm Molly Hennigan excavates family and social history in electrically eloquent prose, finding profound insight and flashes of grounding humour in even the most potentially overwhelming, dark material. A defiant, deeply powerful book' -- Colin Barrett * author of Young Skins and Homesickness *
'A luminously written account filled with wisdom and searing love' * Irish Examiner *
'Molly Hennigan brings original and raw perspective to subjects that have fascinated and bewildered readers for centuries - family, legacy and love' -- Sara Baume * author of Seven Steeples *
'Moving, beautiful, essential and the kind of writing I am in awe of. Essays on love, care, incarceration, responsibility, interconnectedness and generational layers of being - an exceptionally important recording and honouring of women and their lives. This book will break you and stitch you back together and you'll be so grateful for every bit of that process' -- Kerri ni Dochartaigh * author of Thin Places *
'It is written with wisdom and fearlessness, it is lyrical and compassionate, and reminds me of Annie Ernaux in its clarity and intelligence. It is a sincerely important work for Ireland right now' -- Niamh Campbell * author of This Happy and We Were Young *
'A tender, clear-eyed sketch of the connective tissue that binds women across generations' -- Doireann Ni Ghriofa * author of A Ghost in the Throat *
'Fearless in its approach to both personal and Irish history, Hennigan's The Celestial Realm marks a brave new voice in Irish literature' * The Irish Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9781804184066
Author Molly Hennigan
Format Hardback
Page Count 176
Imprint Bonnier Books Ltd
Publisher Bonnier Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 264g
Dimensions(mm) 204mm * 138mm * 21mm