'Saoirse' by Charleen Hurtubise

Author Charleen Hurtubise joins Sara in the Radio 2 Book Club to chat about her debut novel, 'Saoirse'

They talk about her inspirations for the story, the fine line between dishonesty and reinvention, beekeeping and giving her son's cat a cameo in the book.

We also hear a snippet of the audiobook - and - get a great book recommendation too!

Here's a little bit more about the novel:

In the wilds of Donegal, Ireland, 1999, Saoirse is an artist living an outwardly idyllic life. Her tender husband Daithí and two beloved daughters are regular subjects for her work, and in them she has found the safe home that she has always longed for. She tends not to talk about her past, and those that love her have learned to accept that the full story is too painful for her to disclose.

When her Dublin exhibition unexpectedly wins a prestigious award that invites a swarm of publicity, Saoirse is left panic stricken. The unanticipated recognition threatens to expose a decade's worth of buried memories and past crimes. Because what her family and friends don't know is that Saoirse has been on the run since she was seventeen, she has stolen an identity to survive, and whilst Ireland might now be her home, it wasn't her first - and now her past life is poised to reclaim her.

The novel weaves between flashbacks to a complicated childhood in Michigan, and Saoirse's journey to and in Ireland to forge safety for herself.