Field Ramble with Niamh Mulvey
04/11/24 • 24 min
On this episode we speak to author Niamh Mulvey about her upcoming debut novel The Amendments. Many of you will know Niamh from her short story collection Hearts and Bones. (Head back to episode 6 of the pod if not to hear our interview with her shortly after H&B’s publication.) With The Amendments (published by Picador on April 11th) Niamh takes the titular story from the collection and crafts it into what is a beautifully wrought novel.
Set between London and Ireland The Amendments spans the lives of three generations of women, mapping the waining impact of powerful institutions on their lives. Although the plot is at stages particular to Ireland, there is a universal quality to the struggles Nell, Dolores and Brigid meet that is all too familiar.
Niamh’s is a rare voice. In a world that so often only speaks with unthinking certainty she writes bravely with rare nuance and compassion. The result is an unsparing, human and ultimately hopeful novel that asks us to embrace the world in all its contradictions and ambiguity. The Amendments is a huge recommend and one to watch through-out the year. If you’re close to any of these lovely places Niamh will be speaking there on these dates, so head along:
Foyles, Charing Cross Road 20th April (with Sinéad Gleeson and Elaine Feeney)
Phlox Books, London 24th April (with Tomiwa Owolade)
Waterstones, Manchester 25th April
The West Kirby Bookshop, 26th April
@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine
On this episode we speak to author Niamh Mulvey about her upcoming debut novel The Amendments. Many of you will know Niamh from her short story collection Hearts and Bones. (Head back to episode 6 of the pod if not to hear our interview with her shortly after H&B’s publication.) With The Amendments (published by Picador on April 11th) Niamh takes the titular story from the collection and crafts it into what is a beautifully wrought novel.
Set between London and Ireland The Amendments spans the lives of three generations of women, mapping the waining impact of powerful institutions on their lives. Although the plot is at stages particular to Ireland, there is a universal quality to the struggles Nell, Dolores and Brigid meet that is all too familiar.
Niamh’s is a rare voice. In a world that so often only speaks with unthinking certainty she writes bravely with rare nuance and compassion. The result is an unsparing, human and ultimately hopeful novel that asks us to embrace the world in all its contradictions and ambiguity. The Amendments is a huge recommend and one to watch through-out the year. If you’re close to any of these lovely places Niamh will be speaking there on these dates, so head along:
Foyles, Charing Cross Road 20th April (with Sinéad Gleeson and Elaine Feeney)
Phlox Books, London 24th April (with Tomiwa Owolade)
Waterstones, Manchester 25th April
The West Kirby Bookshop, 26th April
@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine
Previous Episode
Field Ramble with Sinéad Gleeson
On this episode we hear from Sinéad Gleeson about her upcoming debut novel Hagstone. Set on a rugged island somewhere in the wild Atlantic it centres around the life of Nel an artist who draws inspiration from the landscape, folklore and unexplained phenomena that surround her. The island is also home to a reclusive community of women, the Inions, who task Nel with the creation of a new artwork, a request that leads her to uncover truths both about them and herself.
If you’ve read Sinéad’s essays or know her work as an editor then Hagstone is exactly as you’d imagine. Thought provoking, unafraid and above all else a work of great story-telling. It was great to get the chance to sit down with her and hear how the novel came into being. And, along the way, we also had the chance to look back at her essay collection Constellations, discuss the incredible energy of the Irish literary scene and the enduring presence of Maeve Brennan.
Hagstone a huge recommend and is published in just a couple of weeks by 4th Estate on April 12th
@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine
Next Episode
Field Ramble with Richard Norris
On this episode of the Ramble we meet Richard Norris to hear about his memoir of a lifetime in music, Strange Things Are Happening. The book spans the entirety of Richard’s career from an early pivotal meeting with John Peel, via the birth of Acid House to Californian adventures with Joe Strummer. But Strange Things Are Happening is much more than a series of anecdotes.
At its heart are a series of reflections on forty years of creative practice, a lifetime of collaborations and innovations in music that have brought countless people together. It is written with a rare grace, never shying from accounts of relationships imploding or ideas that don’t make it. But above all else there is a deep sense of love here for the creative act and a gratitude for a life well lived.
Strange Things Are Happening is published by White Rabbit Books and is a huge recommend.
Richard Norris lived the 20th century and beyond like no one else and this is one of the truly great eyewitness accounts of the heroic years of the counterculture.'
David Keenan
@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine
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