Make Strange

£20.00

It begins on an orange afternoon, cool but ruminant, close to Halloween. Sunny, only four years old, looks up from the terrarium-sized tub of toys in the living room and asks her mother when she died. Over the course of the next strange, strained year, Sunny will refer repeatedly to her previous lives, and how they ended. Her parents, Lena and Odhran – who rushed headfirst into family life after an accidental pregnancy and a hasty registry office wedding – are left desperate for answers. Is their child suffering from disassociation, a psychological disorder, or something more? Has she been contaminated by their own haunted histories – by Lena’s experiences as an indie musician in the era of sleaze, by a shady legacy of madness in Odhran’s family? Can we ever really protect our children? What if we can’t?

Pre-order

Scheduled for publication on 4th June, 2026
The book will be available on or after this date. If you would like to preorder a copy, we will notify you when it is ready to collect.

SKU: 9781399631792 Category: Tags: , Publisher/imprint : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Page count : 320
Published on 4th June, 2026

Description

‘DELIVERS NEW PLEASURES ON EVERY PAGE’ ANNE ENRIGHT
‘STYLISH, SHARP AND FIERCELY INTELLIGENT’ LUCY CALDWELL
‘A GLOWING, MOVING, DARING BOOK’ SEÁN HEWITT

It begins on an orange afternoon, cool but ruminant, close to Halloween. Sunny, only four years old, looks up from the tub of toys in the living room and asks, ‘Mama, do you remember when I died?’

Over the strange, strained year that follows, Sunny will refer repeatedly to her previous lives – and how they ended.

Her parents Lena and Odhran, who tumbled into family life after an accidental pregnancy and a hasty registry office wedding, are left desperate for answers.

Is their child suffering from disassociation, a psychological disorder or something more? Has she absorbed their own haunted histories – Lena’s experience as an indie musician in the era of sleaze, or the shady legacy of madness in Odhran’s family? Can we ever really protect our children? What if we can’t?

From the multi-award-winning author of This Happy and We Were Young, comes a shimmering, propulsive novel about maternal concern, childhood imagination, past lives and present loves.

‘DEEPLY WISE, DEEPLY HUMANE’ KIERAN GODDARD
‘A LUMINOUS PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG FAMILY UNDER PRESSURE’ MICHELLE GALLEN
‘FULL OF CURIOUS IDEAS AND MELANCHOLIC BEAUTY’ SARA BAUME
‘SIMPLY EXQUISITE’ ANNE GRIFFIN

Additional information

Dimensions 22.2 × 13.8 cm
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