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A Beautiful Loan

By Mary Costello
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Brief Description
Exquisitely written and profoundly moving-the new literary novel from an award-winning Irish author. 'An exceptional, compulsive novel of love, loss and courage. SINEAD GLEESON 'Mary Costello is a writer of rare and exquisite sensitivity' PAUL LYNCH 'One of our foremost women writers' GUARDIAN This is Anna's... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$4000
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

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Exquisitely written and profoundly movingβ€”the new literary novel from an award-winning Irish author

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
Exquisitely written and profoundly moving-the new literary novel from an award-winning Irish author. 'An exceptional, compulsive novel of love, loss and courage. SINEAD GLEESON 'Mary Costello is a writer of rare and exquisite sensitivity' PAUL LYNCH 'One of our foremost women writers' GUARDIAN This is Anna's story. In Dublin in 1985, nineteen-year-old Anna Hughes is in thrall to Peter Gallagher, an older, worldly man. Anna is introverted and naive, and Peter's experience, wide circle of friends and thirst for adventure captivate her. Her obsessive longing for him leads to marriage and, eventually, a crushing betrayal. When Anna meets a kind-hearted Algerian man, she finds herself falling in love with him. Life with Karim offers stability and renewed hope and, slowly, Anna begins to uncover deeper layers of herself. Unfolding over twenty-five years, this is a profound novel about the loss of innocence, the price of love, and the cost of seeking salvation in others. With her exquisite insight, Mary Costello tells a piercing story about longing, intimacy and the unpredictable road to discovery of the self. 'Brings to mind the elegance of Colm T ibin and the insight of Alice Munro.' MAGGIE O'FARRELL 'Mary Costello has a genius for taking ordinary, unheralded lives and discovering within them the disquiet, the disillusionment, concealed just below the surface.' AUSTRALIAN

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781923058286

Publisher: Text Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 24 March 2026

Country: Australia

Imprint: The Text Publishing Company

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 17.0mm

Width: 154.0mm

Height: 233.0mm

Weight: 284g

Pages: 192

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Mary Costello Penguin Books

About the Author

Mary Costello's short story collection, The China Factory, was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award and shortlisted for an Irish Book Award. Her first novel, Academy Street, won the Irish Novel of the Year Award and was named overall Irish Book of the Year in 2014. The River Capture, her second novel, was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Awards and the Dalkey Book Awards. Mary Costello lives in Galway.

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  • The China Factory
    A collection of twelve exquisite stories that explore how ordinary men and women endure the trials and complexities of life and the ripples of disquiet that lie beneath the surface. An elderly schoolteacher recalls the single act of youthful passion that changed her life forever; a young gardener has an unsettling encounter with a suburban housewife; a wife who miscalculated...
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  • The River Capture
    From the winner of the Irish Book of the Year Award comes this lyrical and quietly profound story of romance, family legacy and the enduring literary power of James Joyce. Thirty-four-year-old Luke O'Brien has left the city to live a quiet, bookish life on the River Sullane in County Waterford. Alone in his big house, he longs for a return...
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  • Academy Street
    Academy Street is the heart-breaking and evocative story of one woman's life spanning six decades. Tess's childhood in 1940's rural Ireland is defined by the sudden death of her mother. Later, in New York, she encounters the ferocious power and calamity of love, and the effects of catastrophic fate. The novel resonates with the rhythms of memory and home as...
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  • Barcelona
    In Barcelona, we meet a cast of characters who live turbulent inner lives. In a Spanish hotel room, a marriage unravels as a young wife is haunted by a past love. A father travels to Paris to meet his scientist son and is exposed to his son's true nature. A woman attends a reading by a famous author and comes...
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    THE IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER A marriage unravels in a Spanish hotel room as a young wife is haunted by a past love. A father travels to Paris to meet his scientist son and is exposed to his son's true nature. A woman attends a reading by a famous author and comes to some painful realisations about her own marriage. The...
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