Farrell and Son

From the author of the bestselling Mouthing comes a wise and bittersweet novel about life and death, secrets and lies, and one small Irish family in crisis… Mick Farrell is the only funeral director in Ballyrowan. He is also a very unpopular man – pedantic, tight-fisted and stiff as a corpse. His long-suffering wife Catriona works alongside him, preparing the departed for their final send-off. Their daughter Niamh, a sweet, strange girl, can't wait to grow up and join the family business. She isn't allowed inside the funeral parlour yet – but she sneaks in whenever she can to watch her parents tending to the dead. But when the Farrells, who have made death their business, are suddenly confronted by a very personal grief, the fault-lines running through their eccentric home start to fracture. Catriona’s mental health teeters on a knife edge. Mick is drawn back to dangerous old temptations. And the lie that they have kept hidden for years threatens to surface. Meanwhile Niamh, left to her own devices as her parents unravel, resorts to confiding in the recently deceased, and is astonished to hear the corpses talking back… © Orla Mackey 2027 (P) Penguin Audio 2027