'In the Event of Contact' by Ethel Rohan is now published in Ireland & the U.K.

 "In the Event of Contact" by Irish writer Ethel Rohan has been published in Ireland and the UK this month!! I'm very familiar with Ethel's brilliant work, so I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!! This series of short stories has already received some amazing reviews, some of which are listed below.

You can order this delight online HERE 

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the Event of Contact contains fourteen gripping stories set in Ireland, England, and America. Stories from a singular survivor voice that chronicle crises of contact, various forms of injury, and characters making surprising bids for recovery.

Among them, a scrappy teen vies to be the next Sherlock Holmes; an immigrant daughter must defend her decision to remain childless; a guilt-ridden woman is haunted by the disappearance of her childhood friend; a cantankerous crossing guard celebrates getting run over by a truck; an embattled priest with dementia determines to perform a heroic, redemptive act, if he can only remember how; and an aspirational, angst-ridden mother captains the skies.

Amid backgrounds of trespass, absence, and necessity, the indelible characters of In the Event of Contact seek renewed belief in humanity and the remains of wonder. 

REVIEWS

“Terrific, insightful stories…through subtly wrought metaphors and similes, Rohan draws us beyond the accommodations [injured characters] have made in order to survive, and into the heart of their trauma…compelling this reader to marvel at how doggedly so many of us recreate and repeat our trauma…[an] extremely fine collection.” The Irish Times

 

In the Event of Contact is a timely read about the importance of connecting with other people on our own terms.” BITCH Magazine Selected Feminist Reads for 2021 

“Through her brilliant storytelling, Rohan explores the deep desire for human relationships, and the physical or psychological distances that affect them.”  Booklist

 

“Social distancing marked the lonely horror that was this year; paradoxically a demonstration of how affection and empathy for our fellow humans required us to retreat into ourselves, connection now defined by the absence of contact. Ethel Rohan’s book of short stories examines something similar in its evocation of what connection or its lack can do to us. In the Event of Contact is a loving homage to humanity in all its complexity.” The Millions

 

“A striking collection about loners.” Publisher’s Weekly

 

“The stories straddle the faultlines of the lives of their characters and as a collection quietly and subtly accumulate a potency that by the end leaves the reader breathless.” The Westmeath Independent

 

 “A taut and melancholy meditation on human (dis)connection in overlooked places and among underseen people.” San Francisco Chronicle

 

 “Rohan excels in the movement of characters, positioning them as efficiently as a stage manager. She knows at precisely which scene the Peters and the Dohertys of the world should enter, and she understands the limited space she is working with. This control ensures that her stories are never at a loss for momentum…Rohan captures the emigrant experience for what it is, a process of becoming an alien in two countries — and as glad as her characters might be that they left, they understand that everywhere has become, in some way, a separate world, in which there will still also be men.” Necessary Fiction