THE ACCIDENT SEASON (Penguin, 2015)
Sensuous, eerie, lyrical. . . The Accident Season reads like a poem. The mystery is intriguing, the writing is gorgeous, and the characters are vivid. A lovely debut. —April Tulcholke, author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Every October Cara and her family become inexplicably and unavoidably accident-prone. Some years it’s bad, like the season when her father died, and some years it’s just a lot of cuts and scrapes. This accident season—when Cara, her ex-stepbrother, Sam, and her best friend, Bea, are 17—is going to be a bad one. But not for the reasons they think.
Cara is about to learn that not all the scars left by the accident season are physical: There’s a long-hidden family secret underneath the bumps and bruises. This is the year Cara will finally fall desperately in love, when she’ll start discovering the painful truth about the adults in her life, and when she’ll uncover the dark origins of the accident season—whether she’s ready or not.
For fans of We Were Liars, How I Live Now, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane comes a haunting, sexy, magically realistic debut about a family caught between a violent history, a taboo romance, and the mysteries lurking in their own backyard.
Fowley’s stunning debut novel weaves the temporal and the spiritual into a seamless reality, rich in emotional impact. Devastating loss and abuse are balanced by romance, teen hijinks, and spine-tingling discoveries. . . . This thought-provoking narrative will cast its spell over older teens and adults alike. —School Library Journal, starred review
Ghosts, secrets, and magic collide in this Irish author’s astonishing debut. . . . a moving portrait of a fractured family, knitting itself back together with courage and love. A powerful novel from an exciting new talent. —Kirkus, starred review
A magical debut that you will devour — The Guardian
Eerie and edgy, dark and intense . . . You’ll read it in a single breathless sitting — The Bookseller
Months after reading Moïra Fowley’s stunning debut, I am still blown away . . . One of the best books I’ve read in years. An exquisite story – the kind to win awards, top bestseller lists, and become the obsession of book lovers everywhere — Publishers Weekly
This astonishingly bold debut combines gritty reality with mystical, ghostly presences – and is beautifully written — Daily Mail
Beautifully crafted and atmospheric, the magic realism of this book gradually peels away to expose secrets and reveal unexpected truths. Readers will be swept away by Fowley’s lyrical writing and entrancing premise in this tale of forbidden love and magic. —Booklist
The Accident Season is amazing. —Holly Black
A lyrical and sometimes chilling exploration of the ways in which we manipulate memories to fall in line with our present narrative—the lies we tell ourselves to keep our brains safe and happy. Cara’s narration brilliantly, sometimes brutally conveys the unraveling of both Cara and her family…and the bittersweet ending will haunt readers as much it does Cara. —BCCB