Vendor
	Fritz Agency Christian Dittus
Original language
English

THE GOSPEL OF ORLA

Eoghan Walls

A stunning debut novel from the Northern Irish poet Eoghan Walls, The Gospel of Orla is the coming-of-age story of a young girl, Orla, and the man she meets who has an astonishing and unique ability. It is also a road novel that takes us across the north of England after the two flee Orla's village together. Here the mysteries of faith charge full bore into the vagaries of contemporary mores. A humorous, wise, deeply human and sometimes breathtaking work of lyrical fiction.

EOGHAN WALLS is a Northern Irish poet from Derry. He has lived and worked in Ireland, Britain, Germany and Rwanda. He won an Eric Gregory Award in 2006, and his poetry has been shortlisted for multiple international awards, including the Bridport Prize, the Manchester Poetry Prize and the Piggott Prize. He has published the first major translation of Heidegger's poetical works and currently teaches Creative Writing at Lancaster University. The Gospel of Orla is his debut novel.

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Book Published 2023-03-01 by Seven Stories Press

Comments

This entrancing debut is told in the voice of Orla, a 14-year-old who lives in a village in the north of England. Her mother has recently died, and her father self-medicates with alcohol, which often leaves Orla in charge of looking after her much younger sister, Lily. Orla is regularly in trouble at school, largely for shoplifting, which she does in part to help her collect food for her planned escape to Ireland, where her mother is buried. On one of her attempted escapes, she runs into a mysterious man, whom she then witnesses perform seemingly impossible acts. From here the story becomes an odd-couple road novel, one full of pathos and humor. It is also a coming-of-age story, one that follows Orla's grief through the filter of her righteous teenage rage, her cast-iron belief in her own worldliness, and her childlike vulnerability. She is a brilliantly engaging protagonist. By blending a fable-like structure and Orla's grittily realistic voice, Wells has created a consistently surprising, evocative, almost impossible to put down, and gloriously original work. -- Alexander Moran

A melancholic, funny, and magical coming-of-age story, The Gospel of Orla is glorious, wise, and totally weird. I loved it. -- Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals

The Gospel of Orla is an astonishing feat of characterisation and storytelling. The prose is both earthy and sparkling and the story -- equal parts bravado and vulnerabilityis told with both wit and tenderness. Everyone should read this. -- Jenn Ashworth, author of Ghosted

Eoghan Walls writes with humour, inventiveness and irreverence in The Gospel of Orla. Its wholly convincing adolescent lead is neither hero, anti-hero, nor villain. The people she encounters are neither saints nor sinners, however we might mistake them for the same. This novel is exactly the sort of searching, truth-troubling story that Orla needs to read, that would surely stay with her. -- Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Wild Laughter and Orchid

From the first paragraph, this debut novel grabs the reader with its voice as well as its dramatic plot ... What grounds The Gospel of Orla in the world of real-realism, not magical realism, is Orla's wonderfully vivid voice. Author Eoghan Walls is an award-winning Irish poet, and Orla's stream-of-consciousness sings with a carefully crafted combination of music and the genuine workings of a teenager's mind. . . . her voice and the mystery of her experience make this novel a compelling, unique read. Read more...

Although Orla longs to see her mother again, it is the girl herself who needs bringing back to life -- something Walls manages in this poignant, hopeful, compelling little book that offers a window into a troubled teenage soul. Read more...

The Gospel of Orla is written with immense control and precision so that the voice of the protagonist emerges as alive, individual and memorable. Eoghan Walls manages to make every single emotion Orla feels --every thought, response and action -- utterly convincing and fresh and original. -- Colm Tóibín, author of The Magician

In his debut novel, poet Eoghan Walls imagines the intersection of the material and the mystic when a grieving adolescent stumbles upon a struggling savior. Walls provides an authentic and page-turning narrative from the perspective of his restless and ever-beguiling protagonist. As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin. -- Kia Corthron, author of Moon and the Mars

By turns funny, surprising, moving. With a poet's control and playfulness, it paints a convincing portrait of a teenagers grief and resilience. --The Irish Times