'The words she'd closed the door on
The words she'd banished 
Tired of them surrounding her
Tired of not having an answer
Anyone would want to hear.'

The first book by the award-winning author of The Deepest Breath.

It’s New Year’s Eve, and Beth plans to spend a whole year alone, in her snug, safe house. But she has reckoned without floppy-eared, tail-wagging Mouse, who comes nosing to her window. Followed shortly by his owner, Alice. As Beth’s year of solitude rolls out, Alice gently steals her way first into Beth’s house and later into her heart. And by the time New Year’s Eve comes round again – who knows?

'A sensitive exploration of mental illness and new love between two young women. Beautifully written, this is a story that captures and holds the reader from start to finish … Language is rich and accessible and the storytelling is exquisitely crafted … A superb debut novel from an author who is definitely one to watch out for.' – School Library Association Magazine

'Grehan is a poet, a romantic and at the same time a realist. She’s a talented writer and, above all, she’s a strong Irish voice crafting beautiful, important stories about mental illness and the lives of LGBT people.This stunning debut is sure to make waves upon its release and I for one can’t wait to read more of her work.' – The Arcade

'The style of the writing sits perfectly with the state of Beth’s mind, and the ebb and flow of the text, the repetitions, and even the layout of the words on the page all combined to make it a beautiful reading experience… it gave me such an immediately intimate feeling, almost like I was snooping on Beth’s personal life, that I found that I was caught up in the book straight away.

Meg Grehan’s first book, The Space Between, won the Eilís Dillon Award at the 2018 Children’s Books Ireland Awards. The Deepest Breath was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, won the Judges’ Special Award at the KPMG–Children’s Books Ireland Awards 2020 and was selected for the Read for Empathy reading list 2020.

Meg is a young writer living in Donegal in the northwest of Ireland, with a very ginger girlfriend, an even more ginger dog and an undisclosed number of cats (none of whom is ginger).