And Notre Dame is Burning

'A beautifully wrought, thought provoking novel from a thrilling new voice in literary fiction' Charlotte Heathcote, Mail on Sunday
'Miriam Robinson is an incredible writer and this is an astounding debut . . . This will definitely be on prize lists' Nina Pottell, Prima Magazine
'This blazing debut novel explores the startling after-effects of a life gone up in flames... Robinson's subject matter is demanding: it is her skill and subtlety that make this page-turning novel a beacon of hope, as its heroine discovers new ways of living - and of becoming herself' Erica Wagner, Harper's Bazaar
'Robinson's debut is exceptional' Katie Fraser, The Bookseller
'I find myself wondering what would have happened if I had been more clear. If our relationship had not begun with this one tiny untruth'
Esther's marriage begins, and ends, in the shadow of Notre Dame cathedral. Now, time has flattened. Sifting through the ashes of their years together, Esther finds a litany of feeling and memory that no longer makes sense, that don't offer comfort, and that she cannot trust.
Esther seeks help - from generations of women, from a book about evolution, from a philosopher, from her own mother - but mostly, she writes. Fragments, notes, letters. Esther writes, and rewrites, until time slowly takes shape again.
Miram Robinson's powerful debut is an excavation of betrayal, motherhood, guilt and consequence; of love coming to an end. Told with wit, empathy and startling ferocity, And Notre Dame is Burning is a novel of wounds and of healing.

Miriam Robinson