Paul Lynch: Prophet Song

In today’s world, our televisions broadcast a continuous stream of tragic news, from the horrors of war and famine to poverty and homelessness. And it’s all too easy to become desensitized to these images, forgetting that behind them lie real people whose lives have been impacted. So how can a novelist engage readers in the problems of the world, surprise and shock them, and hold their attention?

Prophet Song begins on a dark and rainy evening in Dublin, where we meet Eilish Stack, a scientist and mother of four, answering her front door to the newly formed secret police, there to interrogate Larry, her husband and a trade union leader. When Larry mysteriously disappears, Eilish finds herself caught in the nightmarish logic of a collapsing society. History, her sister warns her, is a silent record of people who did not know when to leave. Now, Eilish must confront some terrible choices – what, or who, is she willing to sacrifice to save herself and her family?

Exhilarating, terrifying, and utterly compelling, Prophet Song is a breath-taking exploration of the human capacity for love and resilience in the face of unimaginable terror – the kind that we see every day on TV. The fact that it takes place in a country we know so well, with characters who could be our neighbours, makes it all the more affecting.

‘A profoundly human story that brings to life the horror of living in a modern war zone. Deft, subtle and written in strikingly beautiful prose, with this stunning novel Paul Lynch has joined the ranks of Atwood, Orwell and Burgess.’ Christine Dwyer Hickey

‘A monumental novel, prose so flawless and flowing that reading it is akin to being taken up in a wave. You emerge dazed. You remember why fiction matters. It’s hard to recall a more powerful novel in recent years.’ Samantha Harvey