A multi-layered exploration of trauma, grief and addiction that will captivate readers of Notes to Self and Small Things Like These
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In 1993, aged twenty, Carmel Mc Mahon left Ireland for New York, carrying $500, two suitcases and a ton of unseen baggage. It took years, and a bitter struggle with alcohol addiction, to unpick the intricate traumas of her past and present.
Candid yet lyrical, In Ordinary Time mines the ways that trauma reverberates through time and through individual lives, drawing connections to the events and rhythms of Ireland's long Celtic, early Christian and Catholic history. From tragically lost siblings to the broader social scars of the Famine and the Magdalene Laundries, Mc Mahon sketches the evolution of a consciousness – from her conservative 1970s upbringing to 1990s New York, and back to the much-changed Ireland of today.
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PRAISE FOR IN ORDINARY TIME
'A vivid, evocative and resonant counterpoint of time, memory and meaning' Joseph O' Connor, award-winning author of Shadowplay
'Stunning... Truth and honesty shine out of every line' Mary Costello, author of Academy Street
'Painfully familiar in its account of family loss and trauma in the urban working class... Sensitively written and quietly devastating, it’s the book I had been waiting for' Niamh Campbell, award-winning author of This Happy
'Beautiful, compelling, thought-provoking... An uncompromising reflection on what it means to be of Irish heritage today' Tara Flynn
’Absolutely gripping…' Martine Evans, The Irish Times
’The peace I discovered reading In Ordinary Time came from the reminder that the cycles we’re all in can be broken, and they can also be repaired' Maeve Higgins, Irish Examiner
‘Brilliant. Beautifully written. Heartfelt, engrossing and hugely insightful' Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner
’A beautifully crafted memoir which left me wanting more' The Gloss Magazine
’A raw, urgent book… it traces love, loss and all else. An extraordinary debut’ RTÉ
'A beautiful memoir’ Ryan Tubridy, RTÉ Radio 1
Carmel Mc Mahon grew up in County Meath, and lived in New York City 1993-2021, when she returned to renovate a house on Ireland's west coast. A graduate of CUNY, her writing has been published in the Irish Times, Humanities Review and Roanoke Review, and shortlisted for the Hennessy Literary Award.
