‘I was at the time in my life where I got to thinking more about people’s choices
– how everything would be different if just the slightest decision changed…’
– Confessions
[ About Confessions ]
It is late September in 2001 and the walls of New York are papered over with photos of the missing. Cora Brady’s father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. Her mother died long ago and now, orphaned on the cusp of adulthood, Cora is adrift and alone. Soon, a letter will arrive with the offer of a new life: far out on the ragged edge of Ireland, in the town where her parents were young, an estranged aunt can provide a home and fulfil a long-forgotten promise. There the story of Cora’s family is hidden, and in her presence will begin to unspool…
An essential, immersive debut from an astonishing new voice, Confessions traces the arc of three generations of women as they experience in their own time the irresistible gravity of the past: its love and tragedy, its mystery and redemption, and, in all things intended and accidental, the beauty and terrible shade of the things we do.
[ My Review ]
Confessions by Catherine Airey published January 23rd with Viking/Penguin and is described as a ‘beautiful new literary debut about secrets, womanhood and family, set between Ireland and New York.’
I was delighted to have the opportunity of interviewing Catherine Airey at a recent event in Waterstones Cork. She is quite an amazing individual with a life that I expect will be filled with exciting and extraordinary experiences. Catherine escaped to West Cork a few years back in need of some timeout but while there an idea was germinating and as she gathered up snippets of information Confessions was born. Inspired by true stories, Confessions opens with a shocking reminder of that dreadful day in September 2001 when the World Trade Centre was savagely attacked and ultimately destroyed during a terrorist strike. The scale of that tragedy can never truly be understood. Those of us of a certain age have a clear image in our minds of where we were at that moment when the awful news hit our screens.
For Cora Brady that day would forever impact her life as her father was one of the many lives lost that dreadful day as he worked in the World Trade Centre for the financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald. As a minor, only sixteen years old, and now an orphan, Cora did her best to avoid the scrutiny of the New York authorities. When she received an unexpected letter from her aunt Róisín in Donegal she flew to Ireland where her life took quite an extraordinary turn.
Confessions traces a family across generations from 1974 to 2023. Incorporating factual events woven around fictional characters the lives of these individuals are all vividly brought to life. The influence of the Catholic church is very evident throughout as Catherine Airey researched many aspects of Ireland’s historical past. There is a fascinating connection to true events in a small fishing village in Donegal on the north west coast of Ireland. In 1972, Burtonport was home to a community known as The Atlantis Foundation, known locally as ‘The Screamers’, owing to their belief in primal scream therapy. Then in the 1980s The Silver Sisterhood moved in, a Rhennish Community who lived their lives according to a matriarchal system. Both these historical facts lay the groundwork for much of Confessions, providing an intriguing backdrop to this remarkable debut.
Through the decades we follow the journey of Róisín, her sister Máire and Michael (Cora’s parents) and Cora’s daughter Lyca. Complex secrets are revealed, with generational trauma and mental health all sensitively handled. With switching narratives, alternative views are explored, all having quite an emotional impact on the reader as we navigate some very provocative paths.
Confessions is a spectacular novel and Catherine Airey has a very authentic voice. There is something immediate and intimate about her writing that captivates the reader, immersing you directly into a particular time and place, crossing continents and generations. It’s an epic saga, an atmospheric, compelling and challenging read, a magnificent and accomplished debut, and one that I highly recommend to all.
[ Bio ]
Catherine Airey grew up in England in a family of mixed Irish and English descent,
and now lives in County Cork.
Confessions is her first novel.
I loved this one. I’d been hoping to see it on the Women’s Prize longlist but no dice, sadly.
It’s so good and she’s such a lovely person too!! I expect we’ll see her pop up over the coming years at many an awards ceremony.