Name: SNOWFLAKE
Rating: 3.75 (12 reviews)
ISBN: 9781786581105

LOUISE. NEALON

'wonderful' Roddy Doyle

SNOWFLAKE

Louise Nealon

'Wonderful' Roddy Doyle 'Sparks with tender charm and humour . . . Fresh, bleakly funny' Sunday Times 'Sharp, clever and affecting' - The Independent 'GAS and beautiful and truthful and touching' Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups 'A novel for anyone who's ever felt lost in the world' John Boyne, author of The Heart's Invisible Furies 'Astonishing' Stacey Halls, author of The Familiars Eighteen-year-old Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies. This world is Debbie's normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College in Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve's eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy's drinking gets worse. Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself, her family and her small life. But the fierce love of the White family is never in doubt, and Debbie discovers that even the oddest of families are places of safety. A startling, honest, laugh and cry novel about growing up and leaving home, only to find that you've taken it with you, Snowflake is a novel for a generation, and for everyone who's taken those first, terrifying steps towards adulthood.

A BBC Radio 4 Book At Bedtime Pick

Snowflake

Joana da Silva

This book came into my life as a "Sally Rooney type beat" kind of book. If you know me, you know I would read everything and anything that is even remotely linked to Sally Rooney. I had a hard time relating to these characters, but once I did, this was a beautiful journey. Louise Nealon's writing is so unique, each word is exactly where it should be and means so much more than it's visible at first sight. The beauty of this story can be found in the little anecdotes and throwbacks woven across the main storyline. Billy has my heart in a chokehold, what a great character.

An exquisitely talented young Irish writer makes her literary debut with this powerful and haunting novel--a tale of love and family, depression and joy, and coming of age in the twenty-first century that is a blend of Sally Rooney and Colm Tóibín. Eighteen-year-old Debbie was raised on her family's rural dairy farm, forty minutes and a world away from Dublin. She lives with her mother, Maeve, a skittish woman who takes to her bed for days on end, claims not to know who Debbie's father is, and believes her dreams are prophecies. Rounding out their small family is Maeve's brother Billy, who lives in a caravan behind their house, drinks too much, and likes to impersonate famous dead writers online. Though they may have their quirks, the Whites' fierce love for one another is never in doubt. But Debbie's life is changing. Earning a place at Trinity College Dublin, she commutes to her classes a few days a week. Outside the sheltered bubble of her childhood for the first time, Debbie finds herself both overwhelmed and disappointed by her fellow students and the pace and anonymity of city life. While the familiarity of the farm offers comfort, Debbie still finds herself pulling away from it. Yet just as she begins to ponder the possibilities the future holds, a resurgence of strange dreams raises her fears that she may share Maeve's fate. Then a tragic accident upends the family's equilibrium, and Debbie discovers her next steps may no longer be hers to choose. Gorgeous and beautifully wrought, Snowflake is an affecting coming-of-age story about a young woman learning to navigate a world that constantly challenges her sense of self.

Aoife Whelan

A startling, honest, laugh and cry novel about growing up and leaving home, only to find that you've taken it with you, Snowflake is a novel for a generation, and for everyone who's taken those first, terrifying steps towards adulthood.

mariola

Debbie's brain isn't perfect. Debbie's thoughts aren't unique. Debbie's dreams are all too real. Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies. This world is Debbie's normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve's eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy's drinking gets worse. Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself and her small life. But if the Whites are mad, they are also fiercely loving, and each other's true place of safety. Startling, fresh and utterly unique, Snowflake is a story of messy families, messier friendships and how new chapters often mean starting right back at the beginning.

SNOWFLAKE 'wonderful' Roddy Doyle

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