Exile by Aimee Walsh
Leaving home was hard. Returning is impossible. Fiadh's life is turned completely upside down on a night out in Belfast.
Pretty soon everyone has heard about what happened; it is impossible to keep the rumours from spreading, the gossip from spiralling out of control. And just as she was beginning to finally figure everything out: she was feeling positive about her move to Liverpool, she was starting to get on top of her uni work and had made some new friends. Now her life is in freefall and Fiadh is helpless to do anything about it.
She starts missing assignment deadlines, stops turning up to class and doesn't respond to any of her friends' messages. Her nights revolve around random hook ups, fuelled by drink and drugs. Without the tightknit group of friends she left behind at home or the support of the new friends she has made in Liverpool, Fiadh's life quickly descends into chaos, a chaos that nearly costs her everything.
Leaving home was hard. Returning is impossible. Fiadh's life is turned completely upside down on a night out in Belfast.
Pretty soon everyone has heard about what happened; it is impossible to keep the rumours from spreading, the gossip from spiralling out of control. And just as she was beginning to finally figure everything out: she was feeling positive about her move to Liverpool, she was starting to get on top of her uni work and had made some new friends. Now her life is in freefall and Fiadh is helpless to do anything about it.
She starts missing assignment deadlines, stops turning up to class and doesn't respond to any of her friends' messages. Her nights revolve around random hook ups, fuelled by drink and drugs. Without the tightknit group of friends she left behind at home or the support of the new friends she has made in Liverpool, Fiadh's life quickly descends into chaos, a chaos that nearly costs her everything.
Leaving home was hard. Returning is impossible. Fiadh's life is turned completely upside down on a night out in Belfast.
Pretty soon everyone has heard about what happened; it is impossible to keep the rumours from spreading, the gossip from spiralling out of control. And just as she was beginning to finally figure everything out: she was feeling positive about her move to Liverpool, she was starting to get on top of her uni work and had made some new friends. Now her life is in freefall and Fiadh is helpless to do anything about it.
She starts missing assignment deadlines, stops turning up to class and doesn't respond to any of her friends' messages. Her nights revolve around random hook ups, fuelled by drink and drugs. Without the tightknit group of friends she left behind at home or the support of the new friends she has made in Liverpool, Fiadh's life quickly descends into chaos, a chaos that nearly costs her everything.
About the Author
Aimee Walsh is a writer from Belfast. Her writing has appeared in Extra Teeth, Refinery29, The Skinny and RTE.
Praise for Exile
‘A taut, accomplished and affecting addition to the recent body of Belfast novels about the disaffected young, and the complicated tug that a place can have on you’
- Lucy Caldwell
‘A dark, often bittersweet read where you're so close to the action that it's almost as if you can hear Fiadh breathe . . . important’
- Belfast Telegraph
‘An explosive debut . . . about the joys, sorrows and complexities of female friendship, and what it is to both leave home and to return changed’
- Alice Slater
Publisher: John Murray Press
Date Published: 23 May 2024
Hardback, 256 pages
ISBN: 9781399815857
