Saoirse, Charleen Hurtubise
Saoirse, Charleen Hurtubise
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Saoirse
A Novel

Author: Charleen Hurtubise

Narrator: Róisín Rankin

Unabridged: 9 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/24/2026

Categories: Fiction, Women, Coming Of Age


Synopsis

For listeners of Colm Tóibín and Claire Keegan, Saoirse is a powerful novel set between the United States and Ireland about a woman who runs from her traumatic past and the secrets she carries to survive.

Saoirse features light musical sound design.

In Michigan, Sarah’s childhood was defined by fear and silence. As a teenager, she saw a chance to escape and took it. Now, in 1999, she is an artist living on the rugged coast of Donegal, Ireland, where she is known as Saoirse (pronounced Sear-sha)—a name that sounds like the sea and means freedom in the language of her adopted country. And free is precisely how she is finally beginning to feel. Her partner and two beloved daughters are regular subjects of her paintings, and together they have made the safe home she always longed for. But Saoirse's secrets haunt her. No one must learn of the identity she has stolen in order to survive; they cannot know of the dangers that she crossed an ocean to escape.

When her artwork wins unexpected acclaim at a Dublin exhibition, the spotlight of fame threatens to unravel the careful lies that hold her world together. Journalists and admirers begin to ask questions about the mysterious artist from Donegal, and she fears the unwanted publicity will expose all that she has done.

Saoirse is an evocative, suspenseful exploration of the intimate relationship between art and life and the lies we tell ourselves in the name of reinvention.

A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books

About Charleen Hurtubise

Charleen Hurtubise is a novelist, essayist, and artist. She is the author of The Polite Act of Drowning, published in Ireland and the UK in 2023. Saoirse is her US debut. She holds an M.Sc. from Trinity College Dublin and an MFA in creative writing from University College Dublin, where she has facilitated creative writing seminars. The sixth sister in a family of nine, she spent much of her childhood in Michigan, her early adult years in Boston, and has now lived half of her life in Ireland, which is home. Though she lives in Dublin with her Irish family, the pull of Donegal never leaves and continues to influence her drawings and writings, including Saoirse.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Canadian Jen on March 17, 2026

Saoirse. The name means freedom. Sarah has left the U.S. and the abuse and is now on the run from her past. She has landed in Ireland under a stolen identity with her past shackled to her. She is afraid to disclose anything about herself as she fears for her life. So, she lives with this false identit......more

Goodreads review by emma on March 06, 2026

all my experiences with saoirses have been positive. that just means saoirse ronan and the edition of brooklyn with the movie tie-in cover, but still. (thanks to the publisher for the e-arc) (review to come)......more

Goodreads review by Angela M on September 01, 2025

Something in her past was so horrible it made her flee from the US to Ireland . Something in her past was so unbearable it caused her to break the law to save herself and her sister. In alternating chapters the story moves back and forth between present and past years as Saorise’s life is revealed......more

Goodreads review by Karen on December 29, 2025

An amazing and powerful novel set between the United States and Ireland. An 18 yr old young woman must flee from her trauma filled life and the secrets she carries to survive. She does this by stealing the identity and passport of a young woman her age that she worked with who lives in the U.S but is......more

Goodreads review by Kevin on October 06, 2025

Much like Eleanor Oliphant or Owen Meany, Saoirse is a titular character who will live long in my memory (although the spelling of the name will forever be a source of typos). At the start of this novel, we meet Saoirse living an idyllic life with her husband Daithi and two children. However, when we......more


Quotes

Saoirse is a delicious literary jigsaw, leaving the reader to piece together the memories, paintings, and confessions of our eponymous heroine. Beautifully written and enticingly intriguing… Charleen Hurtubise is a shiny new star in the Irish literary firmament.”
—Liz Nugent, bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond and Unraveling Oliver

“Audacious and propulsive, a story that surges with emotional vitality—this is a dazzling novel.”
—Colin Walsh, author of Kala

“A novel as rich with narrative layers as the visual art of its protagonist, yet limned with trauma, with the consequences of secrecy and silence, and with the hope that can come from true connection and community, Saoirse is an audacious act of storytelling.”
—Belinda McKeon, author of Tender and Solace

"Hurtubise places her memorable heroine at the center of a propulsive and twisty plot, and makes Saoirse’s desire for freedom palpable on every page. It’s a knockout."
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"An acclaimed novelist in the UK and Ireland, Hurtubise delivers a stellar U.S. debut, spinning a transcendent journey of discovery that radiates with exceptional honesty and lingering atmospheric depth."
- Booklist