Roisín O’Donnell’s short story, “Sleep Watchers,” was shortlisted for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards this year. Her story, “How to Build a Space Rocket,” won the same prize in 2018.

She is the author of the collection WILD QUIET, published by New Island Books in 2016, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2017, listed in the Irish Times’ favorite books of 2016 and was shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award 2017, as well as the International Rubery Book Award.

Her short fiction has featured in The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, the Irish Times and many other places. Other stories have been selected for major anthologies such as The Long Gaze Back, and have been featured on RTÉ Radio.

NESTING is her first novel. She lives near Dublin with her two children.

Books by Roisín O'Donnell

Nesting

by Roisín O'Donnell - Fiction

Grabbing an armful of clothes off the clothesline, Ciara Fay straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. All she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe. On the surface, she has a perfect life. Her husband, Ryan, is a good provider, and they have another baby on the way. But he also monitors Ciara's every move, flies into unpredictable rages where he convinces her she can do nothing right, and has isolated her from work, friends and her beloved family. With no job and no support, Ciara struggles to provide a sense of normalcy for her little girls. Facing a broken housing system, they move into a hotel room on a floor reserved for women like her. Ryan, meanwhile, wages a relentless campaign to win her back, and Ciara wavers. He never hit her, after all. And don't the girls need a stable home?