Home Stretch：A Novel

International Bestseller

Winner of the An Post Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction Book of the Year

“Norton has a knack for capturing the sturdy, melancholic small-town Irish life where secrets are only revealed when they have to be, and even then in a controlled fashion. His characters come to vivid life, sweeping readers up in this quiet, affecting novel.”—Booklist

“He is a magnificent writer.”— John Boyne

 

It is 1987 and a small Irish community is preparing for a wedding. The day before the ceremony a group of young friends, including the bride and groom, drives out to the beach. There is an accident. Three survive, but three are killed.

The lives of the families are shattered and the rifts between them are felt throughout the small town. Connor is one of the survivors. But staying among the angry and the mourning is almost as hard as living with the shame of having been the driver. He leaves the only place he knows for another life, taking his secrets with him. Traveling first to Liverpool, then London, he makes a home—of sorts—for himself in New York. The city provides shelter and possibility for the displaced, somewhere Connor can forget his past and forge a new life.

But the secrets, the unspoken longings and regrets that have come to haunt those left behind will not be silenced. And before long, Connor will have to confront his past.

Graham Norton’s powerful and timely novel of emigration and return demonstrates his keen understanding of the power of stigma and secrecy—with devastating results.

Graham Norton is the award-winning host of The Graham Norton Show, one of the most popular programs on BBC America. He is the author of the novels Holding, A Keeper, Home Stretch, Forever Home, and Frankie, as well as the bestselling memoirs So Me and The Life and Loves of a He Devil. He lives in London.