Constellations: Reflections From Life

by Sinéad Gleeson

Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Biography Prize
The Number One Irish Bestseller

'Utterly magnificent. Raw, thought-provoking and galvanising; this is a book every woman should read.' Eimear McBride, author of A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing.

'Outstanding . . . demands to be heard' Observer

I have come to think of all the metal in my body as artificial stars, glistening beneath the skin, a constellation of old and new metal. A map, a tracing of connections and a guide to looking at things from different angles.

How do you tell the story of a life in a body, as it goes through sickness, health, motherhood? How do you tell that story when you are not just a woman but a woman in Ireland? In the powerful and daring essays in Constellations Sinéad Gleeson does that very thing. All of life is within these pages, from birth to first love, pregnancy to motherhood, terrifying sickness, old age and loss to death itself. Throughout this wide-ranging collection she also turns her restless eye outwards delving into work, art and our very ways of seeing. In the tradition of some of our finest life writers, and yet still in her own spirited, generous voice, Sinéad takes us on a journey that is both uniquely personal and yet universal in its resonance. Here is the fierce joy and pain of being alive.

'An absolutely astonishing, brilliant and beautiful book.' Kate Mosse, author of The Burning Chambers

'Absolutely extraordinary and life-enhancing.' Daisy Buchanan, author of How to be Grown-up.

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Published November 13, 2024

About the author

Sinéad Gleeson’s essay collection Constellations: Reflections from Life won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, the Dalkey Literary Award for Emerging Writer and was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Michel Déon Prize. She is the editor of the award-winning anthologies The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers and The Glass Shore, as well as The Art of The Glimpse: 100 Irish Short Stories. In 2022, she co-edited This Woman’s Work: Essays on Music with Kim Gordon. Sinéad also collaborates with artists and musicians on performance and sound installations. Her work has been translated into several languages and her debut novel Hagstone was published in 2024 by 4th Estate.