The story starts with Cora as a teenager in New York. She has already lost her mother, years ago. Another tragedy strikes which kickstarts the tragic and tumultuous retelling of stories of the interconnected women in her life.

Cora’s story takes you back to the 70s Ireland where you meet her mom Maire and her Aunt Roisin. This is where the story begins. With two sisters, experiencing their own grief and tragedy. How they meet The Screamers and how life takes both sisters in different directions. Roisin starts creating stories in which the the next ending is determined by choosing between option A or B in each scenario.

These stories of these women, past and present, with some connections, will destroy your heart. Each and every one has met some type of trauma, usually caused by a man. They all have seem to have found strength within themselves to overcome and survive.

I truly enjoyed this book. I savored it. I paused, often, to reflect and take in each woman’s experience.

As a debut novel, @catherineairey has brought to us an incredible tale spanning multiple generations. The writing is excellent, the characters are well developed, the timelines flow beautifully.

Wow I cannot believe this book is a debut! Airey weaves together a familial saga that spans generations, countries, and continents. As we follow these women through their lives and learn how all characters are intertwines and connected, Airey's gorgeous prose will keep you turning pages and then break your heart.

This book was right up my alley and I look forward to reading anything and everything Airey puts out in the future.

trigger warnings: suicide, 9/11 terrorist attack, rape, drugs, abortion, adoption, hazing/bullying, racism, mental health

I don’t know what it is about multigenerational novels but they get me every time. Maybe it is the full circle aspect, or the intense foreshadowing, the reflection of their ancestors? Excellently written, touched on various important topics including, racism, rape, abortion, adoption, and mental health to name a few.

The rape scene snuck up on me so suddenly I had to take a few steps back to confirm, that's how unexpected it was. I appreciated the authors method of detailing the rape victim's uncertainty about her next steps. Mostly I appreciated the diverse character choices, there was no right or wrong, all the women are different and flawed in their own way and many share similarities to their ancestors whom they admire and it was a full circle moment when the younger generation discovers how much she has in common with the women before her.

I really enjoyed the multi-generation aspect of the book and felt I could follow the story. There are some books that make it difficult to follow when spanning across generations. I am so impressed with this author for this to be their debut novel! This book was excellently paced and I can't wait to see what this author does in the future!

Finished Reading

Pre-Read notes

So, the publisher's description of this book compares it to The Goldfinch, which is my second favorite book of all time, and one of the best books ever written. Seriously. It won a Pulitzer. So, Airey has got some big shoes to fill!

Final Review

"She had spent all her life trying to create her own story, exercising her free will. And it was exhausting. It was unholy. It had left her barren." (1:01:25)

I have quite a few quibbles with this book, but I liked it and the last 50 pages are amazing.

"It doesn’t matter how many people you know, or where you go. You’re left with yourself." p205

Reading Notes

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. "I wanted to see what kind of presence its absence had created. I liked the fact that Coney Island was always changing and yet somehow felt the same." p10 Interesting insight about the places we inhabit. Who says you can't go home again? This writing is going to be sharp. It needs to be. *edit The presence of absence becomes a prevailing theme, but I don't think she makes enough of it, rather, she just repeats this syntax again and again, "presence of absence," in different contexts.

2. The main character is often introspective. I find these sections serve up remarkable writing, like this: "I hadn’t been thinking about all the things a person has to do to live in the world –the constant bills and paperwork, remembering to feed yourself. I could understand why the saints wanted to get away from it all, why a person would choose to become a nun. Submitting to an order must give a person so much space." p37

3. Repeated phrases abound. Though I'm not sure exactly what Airey was aiming for with this affect, I sort of love it.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. The dad's alive, the dad's dead, the dad's alive, the dad's dead. Experimental timelines don't have to make sense.

2. One of this things that makes The Goldfinch so brilliant is Donna Tart's style, not just the very good story and form. Since we're comparing, Airey's style is not nearly as intuitive and beautiful as Tartt's. That being said, the story and form here are both engaging, and I can see why the comparison was made.

3. The entire section in second-person-present put me in my doldrums. *edit There's a point at which the second person naturally breaks the fourth wall, addresses the audience as though aware of them. It's quite clever. But it doesn't redeem the second person style issues.

4. It's not clear yet how these sections, all having their own timelines, connect. Because of that, the plot feels flimsy and convoluted.

5. The midpoint turn places the story solidly in romance category, which is not at all what I expected from this book. From any book comparing itself to The Goldfinch.

6. "For so long [my sister has] been between us – always there, even half the world away. We’d tried pushing her out, ignoring the presence of her absence. But that was futile." p187 The sister's lover trope. Well, color me bored as hell.

7. This is a difficult book to read, not because the style is advanced but because the pieces don't always meet up.

Rating: 👤👤👤.5/5 absences
Recommend? yes
Finished: Jan 2 '25
Format: digital arc, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
🪶 - literary fiction
🪢 - experimental fiction
💄 - women's fiction
👩‍👩‍👦 - family stories

Thank you to the author Catherine Airey, publishers Mariner Books, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of CONFESSIONS. All views are mine.
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CONFESSIONS by Catherine Airey is compelling and immersive but very uneven. Moving back and forth through time and characters, the book hopes to weave a multigenerational tale of loss, confusion and complacency. Unplanned pregnancy, sudden death and withheld information play key roles in this family’s survival. There were whole sections that I loved and then other parts that left me disconnected and, frankly, bored. Books that feature 9/11 still tend that way, even 24 years after the fact. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

An ambitious attempt for a multigenerational debut, some of which I feel was enthralling and worked really well, and some that was not so successful. Overall, I found the writing and the characterization to be the most enthralling and engaging part of the story, full of my favorite kind of unlikable and complex female main characters. I feel like each individual characters perspectives were very well flushed out and super interesting, but they did not always go together well. The novel feels like it is setting you up for a mystery, but no real question is posed until about 75 percent of the way through the story. Each individual section is so well done that I feel like they all needed their own book, which is why they did not always relate well. I was satisfied with the way the story was wrapped up ultimately, and I feel that the writing was so good I can mostly excuse the rest of it. Looking forward to reading more of her work in the future!

Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

For an amazing book I love how the author gave chapters to each of these characters and how everything was tied together. It starts out in BUR TONP.R.T. In ireland. There is.
Two sisters the oldest one was m r I e and the other one was r o I s n. The father died so they moved to. Into town and give up the farm. When they had the farm, they had a young man named MI.C h a a e l. M a r I e really loved him and they got very close when they left the farm. She was an artist and she used to draw the old schoolhouse. Her sister r o I s n was the youngest and she always took the brunt of everything. The sister also entered into a contest for an artist and resident in new york city. There was a bunch of artists who came there and they were called s.C.R OEA m.E r s. N a r I e was working with them. So mitch and the younger sister entered her into the contest. She won in new york city , but this was a really hardship for her because she encountered many difficult obstacles. She became pregnant from no fault of her own because she was roommates, with a very wealthy young girl and her father R a p e. The story gets crazy from there because she met her professor and his wife who really wanted a child. So they raised her child. Then
M I c h a e l came to new york because she had a lot of mental problems. She became pregnant again. She did not know her sister was also pregnant by MI.C.H a a e l. Her daughter c o r a is raised by your father because her mother had a lot of mental problems and died. She was struggling to be herself. And and when her father died in 911, she found herself pregnant. She went back to ireland to be with her aunt. Her.
Aunt had a very interesting history behind her too.Because she lived with a doctor who performed A b o r t I o n which was illegal in ireland. There's so many twisting turns in this book You love it

Like the puzzle pieces tatoo's on Maire's body, this book was like a jigsaw puzzle. And boy do I like puzzles. It starts with Cora, a sixteen year old who lives with her father. Her mother has passed away. 9/11 hits and her dad works on the 104th floor of the North Tower. Poor Cora is left alone with no family that she knows of. A letter arrives from an Aunt Roisin that she never knew existed and she goes to Ireland to live with her Aunt who she calls GaGa. Then this multigenerational puzzle gets interesting. The book takes you into the lives of the sisters Maire & Roisin from the time they were children. It is told in different POV's. Maire has always had mental health issues but back in her time that is never addressed. She is a talented artist and moves to NYC to pursue her career. Being the naive girl that she is, she becomes involved with different people who take advantage of her naivety. She left behind a boy who she loved, Michael. Michael feels protective of Maire, but also loves her sister Roisin. The girl's mother has mental health issues also and doesn't speak or leave the house so Roisin is left in Ireland to take care of her mom. I became obsessed with the sister's and their lives. They are a product of their environment from the time they are little. This book is so involved but in a good way. You see how all the generations are affected by earlier decisions made. Putting the puzzle together was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment reading this book. It was sad at parts. All the pieces come together at the end. You will not be disappointed in this read. For a debut, it is awesome.
Thanks to #netgalley, #marinerbooks and @catherineairey for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Confessions covers sections of life lived by the Dooley and Brady family. Starting with teen, Cora, on 9/11, it jumps around in time to share poignant chunks of different family member’s lives, both in New York and Ireland.

I wasn’t sure after starting this book if I was going to be able to see it through. There are a lot of hard circumstances that happen to the characters in this book. But once I got over half way through, I felt like it turned a corner, especially in pacing. Ultimately, I really liked how the plot tied together.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Confessions leapt from a 3-star book to a 4-star book in the final quarter. This is a beautifully written debut novel, but I found the overall pace too slow for my taste. I also thought the time (70s and 2000s) and setting (New York and Ireland) jumps were a bit convoluted. In the end, all the seemingly loose threads about multiple generations of Irish and American women came together in a mostly satisfying way. Thank you to Mariner books and NetGalley for my ARC of this book.

I am struggling with writing this review, book friends. I have a love/hate relationship with this book, and don’t know where to begin. CONFESSIONS by Catherine Airey started off super strong and was giving me the five star feels—I couldn’t put it down! It opens with a young woman’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks that I found completely mesmerizing. Then the timeline and POV quickly switches which left me feeling cheated and wanting more. I’m finding it difficult to describe this novel—there’s a lot going on! So many storylines, time frames, settings, and even formats that quickly change throughout. The beginning absolutely blew me away, the middle kinda lost me, but the conclusion made up for it.

READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY:

- Multiple POVs and timelines
- NYC and Ireland settings
- Multigenerational stories
- Mother/daughter relationships
- Sisterhood and sibling rivalry
- Family drama and dynamics
- Video games
- Complex characters
- Politics and activism
- Mental health representation
- Reflections on the 9/11 attacks

In all honesty, there was just too much timeline jumping and switching of perspectives for my liking. It was rather off-putting. Just when I was getting into a character’s storyline and making a solid connection, everything changed. Whether that be the POV, time frame, or format. I found it quite irritating and sometimes confusing.

With all that said, the writing was superb, unique, and captivating. There’s no doubt in my mind that Airey is an extremely talented writer. One thing for sure is that I’ll never forget this novel. It’s much too quirky and unique! I can’t wait to read more from the author in the future. 3.5/5 stars for CONFESSIONS!

Pre-Publishing Day Review: Confessions by Catherine Ailey (publishing 1/14)

I tend to avoid books that involve 9/11, but the description of this book was so compelling that I knew I wanted to read it anyway, and I’m SO glad I did. Anytime a book is compared to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and The Goldfinch, I’m IN.

This is a multi-generational family saga, set partially in New York but largely in Ireland. This is a sweeping book—we follow four different women, all of whom are related to one another in some way, from the 1970s to the present day—but also a quiet, introspective one. It’s at times haunting (it seems appropriate that much of the book takes place inside a house that’s rumored to be haunted); trauma and loss loom large in this story. But it’s also a really beautiful look at relationships, familial and romantic, and a meditation on how the choices we make reverberate for years (even generations).

While I understand the comparisons to Tomorrow x3 and The Goldfinch, I actually think Claire Lombardo is a better comp for this title. A compelling story about a complicated, imperfect family. Five stars for this one; I’ll be thinking of these characters for a long time. This is Ailey’s debut novel, and I can’t wait to see where she goes next.

Thank you to @marinerbooks and @netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book immediately sucked me in with its immediate wow factor within the first couple of pages. A multi-generational story of women in both Ireland and the US, Confessions focuses on family and choices. While the first 1/3 had me staying up too late reading, the middle lagged a bit for me. Airey tries to do a lot in this novel interjecting a video game choose your own adventure into the mix. It took me out of the flow of the stories of the women. This one tugs at the heart and I'm so glad I read it. Grateful to the publisher for the advanced copy.

80/1oo or 4.0 stars

I was hooked within the first chapter and that feeling did not let go until the end! This was a great story.

This was such an interesting and engaging story! The characters were so well written and I loved the complexity within each of our main characters and their connections to each other.

I will be on the look for the author's next book because this was great!

This melancholy novel moves back and forth in time to tell the story of three generations of Irish women, each of whom has a voice and all of whom are affected in some way by mental illness. Cora is 16 in 2001 when her father Michael is killed on 11 September. Her mother Maire died when she was 8 so now she's back in Ireland to live with her aunt Roisin. And then her daughter Lyra picks things up in 2018 but it all loops back again to when Maire went to New York to study art. The trauma here is immense, the issues this family struggles with oppressive. It's a lot. That said it's also atmospheric and immersive and if the ending is a little.....no spoilers. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This is a big book that reads quickly and you will be rooting for all of these women.

This is a really beautiful multi-generational story of women that flips between the 20th and 21st generations in order to weave together the story of women both in the US and Ireland.

Starting off in 2001, the world completely changes as we know it and for 16 year old Cora the change is intense. She places photos up of her missing father, and struggles with coming to terms with losing him after she already lost her mom some years prior. Her life is change when an estranged aunt from Ireland reaches out and ultimately becomes her legal guardian. What comes next is an intricately weaved story of power, tragedy, trauma, and ultimately love in the face of grave challenges. The way that Catherine writes immediately hooks you in and the story is so immersive that it's deep and I at times felt overwhelmed with emotions.

The characters were each written with their own voice, and I absolutely loved how each was so unique to the other. I do find myself enjoying Lyca far more than the others, but I think that was because of the fact that she has far less trauma and angst in her life than the other women.

This is one hell of a debut novel and the way the author engages the reader and truly captures such a complex story and gently weaves the stories all together shows great skill and I'm beyond eager to see where this author goes in her future works.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Confessions by Catherine Airey is an intense novel. Starting with the tragedy of 9/11 it draws you in as Cora, who has already lost her mother, loses her father when the towers fall. Her aunt in Ireland asks her to come and she does and this is where the novel became much less compelling for me. As it takes you through the daily history, I found that I couldn't get into these other characters and I had a hard time finishing the novel. I just lost interest. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely loved this one. The setting of NY in the days after 9/11 contrasted well with the depiction of growing up in the 1970s in a rural Irish community. I found the old house intriguing and loved following its occupants throughout the story.

A strong debut. Perfect for fans of The Hours. I loved the structure and multiple narrators—Roisin was my favorite. I typically prefer more dialogue than some chapters had but I was transfixed by the authors voice and could not put it down. Read it in one sitting (thanks to holiday break).