The Irish Goodbye, Heather Aimee ONeill
The Irish Goodbye, Heather Aimee ONeill
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Irish Goodbye
A Novel

Author: Heather Aimee O'Neill

Narrator: Kristen Sieh

Unabridged: 8 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/30/2025

Synopsis

National Bestseller

A #ReadWithJenna book club pick following an Irish American family with three adult sisters returning home to Long Island to face tension-filled dinners, ghosts from their pasts, and family secrets in a gripping novel full of biting wit and profound heart.

It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a fatal accident on their brother Topher’s boat. Now the Ryan women are back and eager to reconnect, but each carries a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush. Middle sister Alice has been thrown a curveball that threatens the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk of bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother.

When Cait invites a guest from their shared past to dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family reunion will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive one another—and themselves.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company

About Heather Aimee O'Neill

Heather Aimee O’Neill is a poet, a teacher, and the assistant director of the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two sons. The Irish Goodbye is her first novel.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Terrie on October 18, 2025

Three adult sisters gather with family to spend Thanksgiving in their childhood home on the eastern shores of Long Island. Their parents have aged, the house needs obvious repair, and tensions hang low in the air—the accident two decades ago altered their lives forever. Carrying the grief and loss i......more

Goodreads review by Canadian Jen on October 08, 2025

Nothing like going to gathering, being overstimulated, overwhelmed, but also being able to exit without a goodbye. No long drawn out farewells. That's my kind of party. This story, not so much. Three sisters are brought together at Thanksgiving. They have not seen each other in years. There are secre......more

Goodreads review by Karen on August 11, 2025

This was a beautiful debut novel set on Long Island, where the Ryan’s own a large Victorian home on the eastern shore, it has been in their family for generations. Two decades ago, their lives were upended when a tragic accident happened on the oldest child Topher’s boat. Since then, daughters moved a......more

Goodreads review by emilybookedup on October 07, 2025

3.5 rounded to 4 for GR! what a juicy messy family drama! Jenna’s picks are always fun to read and this was no exception. at under 300 pages, it’s quick and grabs you right away which was exactly what i was looking for right now. if you liked BLUE SISTERS or THESE SUMMER STORMS or even THE PAPER PAL......more

Goodreads review by Tammy on September 30, 2025

Read with Jenna - October ‘25 pick. 5 stars. Loved loved loved. Talk about an engrossing epic story that is raw and emotional. Its left a major impression at a short 288 pages and is so PERFECTLY titled. “THE IRISH GOODBYE” is a well-crafted family drama with a touch of mystery that is richly layere......more

Quotes

A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick

“A sparkling debut, The Irish Goodbye is a rich, compassionate novel about sisterhood, marriage, grief, and forgiveness.”
—Jenny Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street

“The family saga we all need—utterly un-put downable, beautifully drawn, thrilling and heartfelt at once and totally not to be missed. Heather Aimee O'Neill has arrived with gorgeous skills and a keen eye for what drives families apart, and brings them together, too.”
—Jessica Soffer, New York Times bestselling author of This Is a Love Story

"I picked up The Irish Goodbye one morning and finished it later that night, unable to do anything else until I got to the end. These characters captured my heart, and I got lost in this family weekend full of secrets, resentment, and emotional landmines. Heather Aimee O’Neill has written a beautiful debut about family, grief, love, and loss."
—Jennifer Close, bestselling author of Marrying the Ketchups

"Lovingly rendered and acutely felt, The Irish Goodbye takes the reader into the aching, complicated nooks and crannies of a single family trying to find their way back to one another, even as none is sure they have hold of themselves. A beautiful and moving debut."
—Lynn Steger Strong, author of The Float Test

“Emotionally gripping and achingly poignant, The Irish Goodbye is about the secrets we keep from our families and from ourselves. In the Ryans, Heather Aimee O’Neill has created a family that, despite its glimmering specificity, could very well be our own. Mesmerizing.”
—Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year

"The Irish Goodbye has it all: a lovable cast of complex characters; forbidden affairs; a stately, crumbling beach house; a doomed sailboat; long-suppressed family secrets; and one pressure-cooker of a holiday weekend. Above all, this finely-crafted novel explores what it means to be a family, and what we owe each other and ourselves."
—Amy Shearn, award-winning author of Animal Instinct and Unseen City

"Fans of writers from Maeve Binchy to Alice McDermott to J. Courtney Sullivan will relish this big-hearted novel."
—Kirkus

"O’Neill, a poet and writing coach, brings her skills to her compelling debut....This melancholy yet loving novel is perfect for fans of Jennifer E. Smith’s Fun for the Whole Family."
—Booklist

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