Title: SaoirseAuthor: Charleen Hurtubise
Published by: Celadon Books on Feb. 24, 2026
Genres: Literary Fiction
Pages: 256
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Celadon Books
Book Rating: 9/10
For readers 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.
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.
Review:
Simmering, layered, and dramatic!
Saoirse is an immersive, compelling tale that draws readers into the life of Sarah Roy, a young woman from Michigan who, after a traumatic childhood, reinvents herself in Ireland using a stolen identity until the secrets of her past begin to surface, threatening the new life and the love she has built.
Overall, Saoirse is an intricate, absorbing, intriguing novel by Hurtubise that’s perfect for readers like me who enjoy multi-timeline stories with a touch of mystery and a dab of romance.
This book is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.
Thank you to Celadon Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Charleen Hurtubise
Charleen Hurtubise is author of The Polite Act of Drowning. Saoirse is her US debut novel. She has a graduate degree from Trinity College in Dublin and an MFA in creative writing from University College Dublin, where she has facilitated creative writing seminars. Born in Florida to a French-Canadian father and an Irish mother, 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. She lives in Dublin but the pull of Donegal and its mesmerizing landscapes influence both her writing and her visual arts practice.
Photo Credit: Donnchadh Ó Dúill & Sarah Jane Hurtubise
