An extraordinarily intimate memoir in a series of bodily encounters that have made Sinéad Gleeson the woman and the writer she is today, for readers of The Last Act of Love and I Am, I Am, I Am.
Sinéad Gleeson is a writer of essays, criticism and fiction. Her writing has appeared in Granta, Winter Papers and Gorse, and a story of hers will appear in Being Various: New Irish Short Stories published by Faber in May 2018. She is the editor of three short anthologies, including The Long Gaze Back: an Anthology of Irish Women Writers and The Glass Shore: Short Stories by Women Writers from the North of Ireland, both of which won Best Irish Published Book at the Irish Book Awards. Sinéad has worked as an arts critic and broadcaster and has presented The Book Show on RTÉ Radio 1. She lives in Dublin.
Outstanding . . . wide-ranging, intimate and expressive . . . it's
clear that Gleeson's insight is hard-won, and that, like the women
who inspire her, she has found a way to transmute her experience
into something powerful that demands to be heard.
*Observer*
Utterly magnificent. Raw, thought-provoking and galvanising; this
is a book every woman should read.
*Eimear McBride, author of A Girl Is a Half-formed
Thing*
Sinéad Gleeson has written one of those rare things, a wise and
compassionate book full of truth and humility. There are universal
themes here; love, the strength of women, survival against the
odds. Beautiful prose, poetry and history woven together to make
this a must-read and a masterpiece.
*Kit De Waal, author of My Name Is Leon*
Constellations is glitteringly brilliant . . . Political, poetic,
tender and angry, a remarkable book and an astonishing debut.
*Robert Macfarlane, author of The Lost Words*
Exceptional . . . Bell-clear and immaculately hewn throughout . . .
Like Olivia Laing's The Lonely City, this balance between intellect
and humanity is what matters . . . besides entertainment and
enlightenment, we need writing in our lives that reaches into us
and has the potential to leave what's there a little better than it
found it.
*Irish Independent*
Sinéad Gleeson has changed the Irish literary landscape, through
her advocacy for the female voice. In Constellations, we finally
hear her own voice, and it comes from the blood and bones of her
body’s history. Sinéad Gleeson is an absolute force: if you want to
know where passion and tenacity are born, read this book.
*Anne Enright*
Moving, insightful, beautiful essays about health, art, gender,
parenthood, bereavement, the body and her own struggles.
*Irish Times*
An absolutely astonishing, brilliant and beautiful book.
*Kate Mosse, author of The Burning Chambers*
Breathtaking and sublime.
*Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina*
An absolutely astonishing, brilliant and beautiful book.
*Kate Mosse, author of The Burning Chambers*
The most beautiful and brilliant book - gorgeous, furious,
powerful, tender, funny, compassionate and shockingly wise. Sinéad
Gleeson writes with such dazzling talent and vivid insight.
Constellations is one of those rare magical books and I feel truly
nourished by it. Absolutely extraordinary and life-enhancing.
*Daisy Buchanan, author of How to Be a Grown Up*
Constellations is an extraordinary piece of writing - beautiful,
life affirming, and full of heart
*Louise O’ Neill, author of Asking For It*
Nimbly written, balletic in style, heartfelt, spirited and
thoughtful, Sinéad Gleeson's Constellations is a powerful,
inspiring gift to readers everywhere.
*Jami Attenberg, author of All Grown Up*
Constellations is a truly beautiful book; about the tremendous
confines of the body, struck through with almost everything else in
the universe, from songs to stars.
*Sara Baume, author of Spill Simmer Falter Wither*
Sinéad Gleeson’s essay collection brings together passionate,
transcendent essays about bodies and art, ghosts and womanhood,
grief and motherhood, and what it’s like to live in a body that
fails you. Like the perfect title indicates, this is a glistening
ensemble of pieces that live on their own but, all together, form a
powerful emotional universe.
*Elle*
In Constellations, Sinead Gleeson, maps the human body and the the
human condition in all its triumphs and failures, leaving us with
hope and survival. Her writing is startlingly good and fiercely
intelligent, her research is forensic and the result is a gift to
readers everywhere.
*Liz Nugent, author of Skin Deep*
Gleeson’s writing is honest and moving and delves deep into
personal experiences of sickness, health and motherhood.
*Lit Hub*
Gleeson moves nimbly, within and between individual essays, from
the minutiae of the personal to the broad sweep of culture, history
and politics . . . The result is taut but unforced, textured and
various.
*Financial Times*
Uplifting . . . Constellations is a life in a book. Gleeson’s eye
for detail, particularly the absurd or tragic, is dangerously
sharp. She is a thoughtful writer who emerges from her illnesses
resilient and unbowed.
*The Times*
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