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Into the Wreck
How do you mourn someone you never really knew?
Three siblings – Anna, Gemma and Matthew – will have to work that out quickly. Monday is the day of their gentle, but distant, father's funeral, and for the first time in a long while they are under one roof with their mother, imperious Yvonne, awaiting the arrival of their aunt Amy, an award-winning poet.
Yet, as the funeral looms, their everyday concerns refuse to will newly sex-obsessed Gemma work out what she wants from life, beyond her mother's expectations? Can Anna maintain the fine balance between desire and nonchalance with the sort-of, not-quite-exclusive boyfriend, back in London? Will Amy's past explode the relationships of the present? And, crucially, will Yvonne pull off her grand, post-funeral family dinner, the solution to what she fears may be an unsolvable problem?
Told from five different perspectives, into the wreck worries at the knotty complexities of one family's bonds, written with Susannah Dickey's trademark empathy and wit.
Three siblings – Anna, Gemma and Matthew – will have to work that out quickly. Monday is the day of their gentle, but distant, father's funeral, and for the first time in a long while they are under one roof with their mother, imperious Yvonne, awaiting the arrival of their aunt Amy, an award-winning poet.
Yet, as the funeral looms, their everyday concerns refuse to will newly sex-obsessed Gemma work out what she wants from life, beyond her mother's expectations? Can Anna maintain the fine balance between desire and nonchalance with the sort-of, not-quite-exclusive boyfriend, back in London? Will Amy's past explode the relationships of the present? And, crucially, will Yvonne pull off her grand, post-funeral family dinner, the solution to what she fears may be an unsolvable problem?
Told from five different perspectives, into the wreck worries at the knotty complexities of one family's bonds, written with Susannah Dickey's trademark empathy and wit.
309 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 9, 2026
15 people are currently reading
913 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 4, 2026
into the wreck is susannah dickey’s take on the family novel, told with her trademark intelligence and wit. every character was so fully realised with all their human foibles and contradictions - just like with your own family, you wanted to scream at them and hug them at the same time.
thank you bloomsbury for the arc! into the wreck is out on 9 april.
thank you bloomsbury for the arc! into the wreck is out on 9 april.
March 15, 2026
Really really good shit
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I'm a sucker for family dynamic stories.
Susannah Dickey's into the wreck is a gorgeously written examination of a family haunted by decisions made based on what we're "meant" to do.
Three siblings, Anna, Gemma and Matthew, reunite under one roof as their father's funeral approaches. Alongside their domineering mother Yvonne and award-winning, cheery poet aunt Amy, old tensions and personal struggles rise to the surface. Told from five perspectives, Into The Wreck is a brilliant examination of family dynamics.
It tells us that we don't always show all of ourselves to our families. We have perceptions of our loved ones based on our relationship to them, and it's not always the version the rest of the world experiences.
We all have secrets, we have our idiosyncrasies.
This is one of my favourite kind of books; it's character driven, it is an examination of the human condition. It looks at how attitudes and behaviours are passed down or twisted through the generations. It shows that you might think your mad cousin is flighty and a bit much, when she actually might be the most solid person in the room. The one who actually knows what she wants from life. The one who knows herself. It shows you that you might think your teenage nephew might have little to offer but grunts and monosyllabic answers, but he might actually have a existential and philosophical grasp on things that you could even imagine.
The books also tells us that we don't need to know everything to get on with things. We don't have to know all the why's and what fors. Sometimes you just have to live.
Susannah Dickey's into the wreck is a gorgeously written examination of a family haunted by decisions made based on what we're "meant" to do.
Three siblings, Anna, Gemma and Matthew, reunite under one roof as their father's funeral approaches. Alongside their domineering mother Yvonne and award-winning, cheery poet aunt Amy, old tensions and personal struggles rise to the surface. Told from five perspectives, Into The Wreck is a brilliant examination of family dynamics.
It tells us that we don't always show all of ourselves to our families. We have perceptions of our loved ones based on our relationship to them, and it's not always the version the rest of the world experiences.
We all have secrets, we have our idiosyncrasies.
This is one of my favourite kind of books; it's character driven, it is an examination of the human condition. It looks at how attitudes and behaviours are passed down or twisted through the generations. It shows that you might think your mad cousin is flighty and a bit much, when she actually might be the most solid person in the room. The one who actually knows what she wants from life. The one who knows herself. It shows you that you might think your teenage nephew might have little to offer but grunts and monosyllabic answers, but he might actually have a existential and philosophical grasp on things that you could even imagine.
The books also tells us that we don't need to know everything to get on with things. We don't have to know all the why's and what fors. Sometimes you just have to live.
March 18, 2026
Okay look I loved both Tennis Lessons and Common Decency by Susannah Dickey. I was really looking forward to this! But it just didn't work for me unfortunately.
It focuses on three siblings, their mum and their aunt in the lead up to their father's funeral. He was a bit distant and unknowable to all of them and kind of remains that way. Much like the shipwreck that has turned up on the beach opposite their house.
I don't know I found everyone in this book except for Amy, the aunt, to be boring. There wasn't enough of a distinction between each character, they all felt the same. Which maybe owes a lot to the grand vocabulary used throughout. Kind of read like an assignment for an MFA program. I'm really sad about this one!
*read via Netgalley
It focuses on three siblings, their mum and their aunt in the lead up to their father's funeral. He was a bit distant and unknowable to all of them and kind of remains that way. Much like the shipwreck that has turned up on the beach opposite their house.
I don't know I found everyone in this book except for Amy, the aunt, to be boring. There wasn't enough of a distinction between each character, they all felt the same. Which maybe owes a lot to the grand vocabulary used throughout. Kind of read like an assignment for an MFA program. I'm really sad about this one!
*read via Netgalley
March 8, 2026
This had all of the intelligence, emotional precision and incredible character-building that I love love love in Irish lit fic. It’s essentially four character studies, with very little in the way of plot, and I loved getting such an internal deep dive into each of the character’s minds - however I think the structure would have hooked me more if it had alternated perspectives, rather than spending such prolonged periods of time in the knotty interior landscape of each character. It makes for quite a dense read, and the author (who is undeniably a phenomenal writer) also insists on using quite dense, pretentious language - I found myself googling vocab every couple of pages, which felt a bit unnecessary. Overall, though, another really solid piece of Irish literature to add to my ever-growing shelf.
October 25, 2025
Overall, this book was a great to read but not a great read (for me), if that makes any sense! I love Susannah Dickey’s writing style and how character-driven this book was, but I don’t think it will particularly stay with me.
I think this book was very well written, however, if you dislike completely character-focused narratives with flowery writing I would not recommend this. Thankfully, that is my favourite sort of book. Each perspective chapter dives into the psyche of one of the characters, with the present narrative flashing up in between large sections what the character ruminates on their past. Although the movement from past to present is never clearly marked in the formatting of the book, the writing style and just the content of each paragraph makes each transition very smooth. You can easily pick up where you are within the first sentence. Each of them are very much flawed and complex, and it was great to compare how they each perceived the same situations/people differently. They are all extremely introspective characters, which can feel somewhat exhausting (though still very interesting) to read through. Sometimes I did find myself getting lost in a couple of the inner-monologues, especially because some of them eventually felt quite repetitive.
As with this author’s previous work that I have read, ‘tennis lessons’, I just didn’t feel like the novel fully stuck the landing and sort of fizzled out. I suppose I wish the ending was a bit more than what it was. In some ways, I liked that there were many secrets between the characters that are not revealed by the end as I think it would have been somewhat trite to force everything to come out at once. That being said, I was expecting for at least some of these things to be discussed between the characters. For a book titled ‘into the wreck’, I thought we would actually get a bit more into it if I’m honest! (Mild spoilers ahead, not about the plot / what the ending is but about how the ending is told.) I guess I just wanted more from the book and felt it was so close to getting there.
Also, though I appreciate what the shipwreck represented, I found it unnecessary and actually a distraction from the characters and what little plot there was. I wish the scenes with the boat were just cut out entirely or moved to take place somewhere else as I felt it only took away from what the book was doing well. I think the character’s just reflecting on themselves and their actions was strong enough, with the funeral alone being enough to drive the external plot along.
This was so close to being a great read for me, and I am sure it will succeed in being so for many other readers.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!
I think this book was very well written, however, if you dislike completely character-focused narratives with flowery writing I would not recommend this. Thankfully, that is my favourite sort of book. Each perspective chapter dives into the psyche of one of the characters, with the present narrative flashing up in between large sections what the character ruminates on their past. Although the movement from past to present is never clearly marked in the formatting of the book, the writing style and just the content of each paragraph makes each transition very smooth. You can easily pick up where you are within the first sentence. Each of them are very much flawed and complex, and it was great to compare how they each perceived the same situations/people differently. They are all extremely introspective characters, which can feel somewhat exhausting (though still very interesting) to read through. Sometimes I did find myself getting lost in a couple of the inner-monologues, especially because some of them eventually felt quite repetitive.
As with this author’s previous work that I have read, ‘tennis lessons’, I just didn’t feel like the novel fully stuck the landing and sort of fizzled out. I suppose I wish the ending was a bit more than what it was. In some ways, I liked that there were many secrets between the characters that are not revealed by the end as I think it would have been somewhat trite to force everything to come out at once. That being said, I was expecting for at least some of these things to be discussed between the characters. For a book titled ‘into the wreck’, I thought we would actually get a bit more into it if I’m honest! (Mild spoilers ahead, not about the plot / what the ending is but about how the ending is told.) I guess I just wanted more from the book and felt it was so close to getting there.
Also, though I appreciate what the shipwreck represented, I found it unnecessary and actually a distraction from the characters and what little plot there was. I wish the scenes with the boat were just cut out entirely or moved to take place somewhere else as I felt it only took away from what the book was doing well. I think the character’s just reflecting on themselves and their actions was strong enough, with the funeral alone being enough to drive the external plot along.
This was so close to being a great read for me, and I am sure it will succeed in being so for many other readers.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Siblings Anna, Gemma and Matthew are reuniting for their father's funeral, and for the first time in a long while they will under the same roof as their mother, Yvonne, awaiting the arrival of their aunt Amy, an award-winning poet.
Such an exceptional exploration of grief, family dynamics and the weight of expectations. Such fun, light stuff, I know, but so well done, it was such a pleasure to read. I absolutely loved the writing style, and the story itself; I am a sucker for a character driven story, and this was such an incredible one. I do feel a little conflicted, because it had everything I would want from this kind of story, yet it somehow fell flat? But I don't mean that in a negative way at all, because I still absolutely adored it. I think it's one of those books I will eventually go back to, and end up loving even more, or maybe not, but only time will tell. I think my main issue with it is that the characters felt a little repetitive, in a way? But I really loved the overall themes of the story. Sometimes the people we are supposed to be closer to, are such strangers to us we barely know anything about them at all; sometimes we make them up in our heads, just for them to be totally different people after all. Sometimes we think we need to know everything to get on with our lives, not realizing we just need to live. Conflicting thoughts on this one, but still, clearly, loved it.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) & NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
Such an exceptional exploration of grief, family dynamics and the weight of expectations. Such fun, light stuff, I know, but so well done, it was such a pleasure to read. I absolutely loved the writing style, and the story itself; I am a sucker for a character driven story, and this was such an incredible one. I do feel a little conflicted, because it had everything I would want from this kind of story, yet it somehow fell flat? But I don't mean that in a negative way at all, because I still absolutely adored it. I think it's one of those books I will eventually go back to, and end up loving even more, or maybe not, but only time will tell. I think my main issue with it is that the characters felt a little repetitive, in a way? But I really loved the overall themes of the story. Sometimes the people we are supposed to be closer to, are such strangers to us we barely know anything about them at all; sometimes we make them up in our heads, just for them to be totally different people after all. Sometimes we think we need to know everything to get on with our lives, not realizing we just need to live. Conflicting thoughts on this one, but still, clearly, loved it.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) & NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
April 17, 2026
’The greatest deception participated in by the human race, Yvonne has realised, is the myth that you will one day change into someone old enough or wise enough to handle things. Your conscious mind never undergoes some alchemical transformation from childhood to adulthood, from innocence to competence. You are always just you, and it never feels any different - the immediacy of inhabiting a mind at thirty is the same as that of fourteen, as that of fifty. The light of the sun and the light of your mind, cast out through your hungry eyes, cross paths to form perception, but the only thing that ever changes is the history that perception leaves in its wake: the things you have seen prior to whatever you are seeing right now. Sure, you can try with each passing year to draw upon that history, to try and use it to make what feels like an informed decision, but you will never feel more prepared for what's to come than you do now, than you did then.’
I can’t tell whether this became less good, or I just became less interested in it.
It was incredibly well written either way.
I can’t tell whether this became less good, or I just became less interested in it.
It was incredibly well written either way.
April 21, 2026
Into the Wreck explores family dynamics from multiple points of view with the added complication of recent loss.
I loved the structure of the novel; allowing each character to narrate their version without interruption before moving on to the next narrative. It allowed me to build a solid picture of the family piece by piece whilst also getting a full, in-depth understanding of each individual character's motivations, strengths and flaws.
Dickey's writing style is engaging and flows well. She has managed to recreate very well the feeling of disjointedness that grief often opens up between family members as they struggle to connect despite truly caring for each other.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
I loved the structure of the novel; allowing each character to narrate their version without interruption before moving on to the next narrative. It allowed me to build a solid picture of the family piece by piece whilst also getting a full, in-depth understanding of each individual character's motivations, strengths and flaws.
Dickey's writing style is engaging and flows well. She has managed to recreate very well the feeling of disjointedness that grief often opens up between family members as they struggle to connect despite truly caring for each other.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
October 20, 2025
3.5 ⭐
Like a window into all the thoughts of each of the siblings, and other characters, as they come to terms with a death.
Each of these characters felt real, all their thoughts, and way they lived their lives.
I could almost see them.
It's one of those books I'll tell people they really should read, without being able to say why.
If you pick it up, you won't regret it.
Thanks to netgalley for the free digital copy.
Like a window into all the thoughts of each of the siblings, and other characters, as they come to terms with a death.
Each of these characters felt real, all their thoughts, and way they lived their lives.
I could almost see them.
It's one of those books I'll tell people they really should read, without being able to say why.
If you pick it up, you won't regret it.
Thanks to netgalley for the free digital copy.
May 5, 2026
Muy cotorro pero me gustaría saber más del H. paraíso fiscal de Irlanda, también más del papá, más de la tía y de la mamá. Mis personas favoritas obvio fueron ellas y la hija mayor pero también me latió la reflexión del hijo menor y cómo cuestiona su machismo, estuvo lind0. Me cagó que no pusieran la carta de suicidio.
Review of advance copy
really enjoyed how you built perspective and empathy for each character through the different inner monologues. they're all flawed and their flaws intertwine beautifully in a horrible way - you just want to hug, forgive and scream at them all at the same time
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A brilliant novel, exploring grief and family dynamics.
You can read my Guardian review here:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
You can read my Guardian review here:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
December 6, 2025
Thanks so much to Bloomsbury for my copy! Another banger from Susannah
April 12, 2026
someone take away her thesaurus please …
April 24, 2026
Brilliant - if you like people focused narrative this is for you. Some incredibly beautiful writing - full of emotion and each of the characters is so so rich. LOVED
May 4, 2026
I actually wasn't so wild about this book.. it felt lacking in something. Even though I can't quite put my finger on what was missing.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews