BOOK OF THE WEEK: In Ordinary Time by Carmel McMahon

If you love literary memoir by newly discovered Irish authors then have we got the book for you! Carmel Mc Mahon’s In Ordinary Time is a revelation - a multi-layered exploration of memory, grief and addiction that mines the ways that trauma reverberates through time. From tragically lost siblings to the broader social scars of the Famine and the Magdalene Laundries, Carmel sketches the evolution of a consciousness – from her conservative 1970s upbringing to her emigrant’s tale in New York in the 1990s, and back to the much-changed Ireland of today. This is a perfect book for anyone who enjoyed Emilie Pine’s Notes to Self and Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These.  'A vivid, evocative and resonant counterpoint of time, memory and meaning' - JOSEPH O'CONNOR, award-winning author of Shadowplay In Ordinary Time by Carmel Mc Mahon is published by Duckworth Books - celebrating their 125th anniversary as an independent press - and available now. We recommend buying a copy from your local indie bookshop or you can visit our shop on Bookshop.org. Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman Programmed by Matt Casbourne Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices