The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth

An Irish Times Book of the Year 2025

An original voice — Colm Tóibín

Duncan brings a new way of seeing — Irish Times

One winter, in a secluded Alpine city, Irish sculptor John Molloy meets Bernadette, an enigmatic Italian sociologist. As John falls in love, a distressing moment from his youth rises into view, the disastrous fallout of which has reverberated unchecked through his life.

Years later, a letter from home arrives, asking him to pray for the speedy death of an ailing friend. Over a day-long odyssey through the ancient streets and churches of Bologna, John is forced to confront his present, his past and the bedrock of his psyche.

A delicately crafted novel of two halves, a decade apart, The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth is a masterful excavation of human desires, inhibitions and the patterns of habit to which we unwittingly fall prey.