Returning from Brazil with his wife and daughter, Oisin is looking to rebuild a life in Ireland and reconnect with his mother, Brigid, who has early onset Alzheimer's. As her condition deteriorates, she starts to speak Irish, the language of her youth, and reflect on her childhood dreams and aspirations.

Mother and son embark on a journey of personal discovery and as past traumas are exposed, they begin to understand what has shaped them and who they really are.

'The Language of Remembering' asks how we connect to the people we love and how we move on from the past to find meaning in the present.

About the Author

Patrick Holloway is an Irish writer of fiction and poetry and is an editor of the literary journal, The Four Faced Liar. He completed his Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow, before moving to Porto Alegre, Brazil, where he completed his PhD in Creative Writing. He is the winner of the Bath Short Story Award, The Molly Keane Creative Writing Prize, The Flash 500 Prize, the Allingham Fiction contest and he was the recipient of the Paul McVeigh Residency in 2023. His work appears in The Stinging Fly, The London Magazine, Poetry Ireland, The Moth, Southword, The Ilanot Review, Carve, The Irish Times and The Irish Independent. The Language of Remembering is Patrick's debut novel.

Reviews

'In lyrical and humane prose, Patrick Holloway's writing excavates, for me, an essential truth: that we exist both within and beyond language. His characters -- deeply felt and empathetically drawn -- linger long in the mind of the reader; his images are crystalline.'

Sean Hewitt

'A new, exciting voice from Ireland. A storyteller whose gifts dazzle with their truth. Patrick Holloway is quite unlike any other writer, completely compelling in his tale of the dense and unspoken relationships that define some families. At once daring, he employs humour and insight in work which is warm, humane and dares to imagine. He questions the abiding mystery of language, its limitations and revelations, what it can and cannot convey. There is no agenda here, only the creatively inspired, exciting and provocative truth as he imagines it.'

Mary O'Donnell

Book Information
ISBN 9781739188191
Author Patrick Holloway
Format Paperback
Imprint Epoque Press
Publisher Epoque Press