Song of the Prophet

Ireland is caught in the grip of a government that is leading it towards tyranny. Ailish, a scientist and mother of four, can do nothing but watch, powerless, as the reality she has always known falls apart before her eyes. After her husband and then her son disappear, Ailish finds herself trapped in the nightmarish logic of a society that is completely collapsing. How far will she go to save her family? And what or whom will she be willing to leave behind?

Song of the Prophet is a highly original work that shakes and sweeps you into its relentless vortex. It presents both a panorama of a country destroyed by war and a deeply human portrait of a mother's struggle to keep her family together.

Paul Lynch's prose seeks to portray, with as much truthfulness as possible, how the human mind works and how it resembles an unending stream, where the present is inextricably intertwined with past and future, reality with dream, desire with fear.

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2023