Where the Heart Should Be
Award-winning Irish writer Sarah Crossan makes a fantastic return to young adult fiction with her latest work: a novel in verse set during the years of the Irish famine. This book is Crossan’s first historical novel and her first set in Ireland. Where the Heart Should Be is the story of Nell, a young scullery maid at the Big House, who begins her new job just as the tenants, including her own family, are reeling from a ruined potato crop. Watching the dogs eating leftover meat while her friends and neighbours starve makes Nell resentful, but alongside this is her growing relationship with the heir to the estate, Johnny.
Crossan manages, in the limited space that verse allows, to convey so much: deftly written characters, an absorbing sense of time and place, the joy of first love and the anguish of a community torn apart. Crossan has been vocal about how personal this novel has been for her and how long the work has taken. Where the Heart Should Be is an astounding work of fiction, a beautiful tribute to those who died or emigrated, and an incredibly beautifully written and absorbing story. It deserves to be a future classic.
