Said the Dead

An unforgettable book – both history and ghost story – that will leave you gasping by its final page.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE

'A lyrical masterwork . . . Said the Dead is in a class of its own' Sunday Times
'What a ride! What she writes . . . has given me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes' Hallie Rubenhold
'This book will be read for decades to come' Anne Enright
'Astonishing' Yiyun Li
'A metamorphic masterpiece full of shadows, doubles and phantoms' Observer
'Extraordinary . . . intimately researched [and] wildly imaginative' Guardian
'Incantatory . . . Richly evocative and affecting' Financial Times

The more she learned, the more certain she became: this other world was alive and true and trembling, and very close to her own.

Now she had a secret

In the city of Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby has always flinched as she passes the place. Had she lived in another time, she too might have found herself held within those walls.

Now, she notices a sign: FOR SALE.

It is the first of many signs. Guided by an irresistible impulse, she follows them. Soon, she is trespassing, stealing, absconding from the routine of mother, spouse, daughter, as she uncovers a chorus of startling voices: those of the women who knew the hospital best. They murmur from archives and old records. They haunt from stairwells and walls. In them – and in one figure in particular -- she may find meaning and solace, righteous anger, salvation even. Or her final vanishing?

A work of sublime intensity and tenderness, Said the Dead breaks the boundaries between worlds -- past and present, imagined and real, fact and fiction -- to make something new and lasting: an experience full of danger, full of love and full of truth.

What readers are saying:
'The most extraordinary, moving book I've read in ages, blending lyrical prose, history, deep research and lived experience. I devoured it'
'This is truly the best book I have ever read'
'I have been passionately recommending this book to so many people, as it's so beautifully written, but also wildly ambitious and unique'
'Spellbinding . . . unlike anything else I’ve encountered'
'Read it, read it, read it. Then pick it up, and read it again'

Said the Dead was a no. 1 Irish Times bestseller w/e 23rd May to w/e 6th June