The Home Scar

by Kathleen MacMahon

From the Women's Prize longlisted author of Nothing But Blue Sky

'The home scar - that's what they call the mark limpets make on the rock when they return.'

'Wait, they leave the rock?'

'Of course. How else would they survive?

On opposite sides of the world, half-siblings Cassie and Christo have built their lives around work, intent on ignoring their painful past.

When a dramatic storm in Galway hits the headlines, they're drawn back there to revisit a glorious childhood summer, the last before their mother died. But their journey uncovers memories of a far less happy summer - one that had tragic consequences.

Confronted with the havoc their mother left in her wake, Cassie and Christo are forced to face their past and - ready or not - to deal with the messy tangle of parental love and neglect that shaped them.

The Home Scar is a luminous and precise story about the inheritance of loss and the possibility of finally making peace with it.

Praise for Nothing But Blue Sky

'A piece of perfection . . . the best book I've read all year' Irish Examiner

'Touching and enthralling' Sunday Times

'What a beautiful novel . . . Elegant, understated, subtly powerful and rings so perfectly true' Donal Ryan

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Irish Literature, Novels

336 pages, Paperback

Published February 9, 2023

About the author

Kathleen MacMahon is an award-winning television journalist with Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTE, where she reports on the major international stories. The grand-daughter of the distinguished short story writer Mary Lavin, Kathleen lives in Dublin with her husband and twin daughters. THIS IS HOW IT ENDS is her first novel.

Reviews

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reposting as previous review disappeared.

I read this book while in the Connemara region of Ireland as the book takes place there and in Galway. The bookstore I bought this at was in
Clifden, which is also mentioned in the book. I love to read books that are set in the area I am travelling in.

Two half siblings, Cassie and Christo, one living in England, the other in Mexico, decide to meet up and revisit the location of an idyllic summer in their childhood. That summer ended with a separation and then a tragedy which has shaped both their lives. Both are afraid of commitment; both crave being alone. In revisiting their past, they hope to finally leave it behind. Cassie and Christo are so different, yet they share an inseparable bond.

“It made her sad to think that we are none of us really known to anyone, except perhaps to ourselves.” Cassie is thinking this.

The scar in this book is the piece of you that is left behind in the place that you felt most at home. For both Cassie and Christo, it was this place in the Connemara- a lush, beautiful location. This book delves into sibling bond, the damage done by parents and the confronting of one’s past and coming to terms with it. A beautifully written book that I appreciated even more as I did not have to imagine the area as I could see it for myself.

Published: 2023

[Claire Fuller]

MacMahon writes with such beautiful simplicity, conjuring real and complex people straight off the page. As we are discovering who Cassie and Christo are, so they are discovering who their mother really was. Subtle and authentic.

[Aoife Cassidy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The Home Scar, Kathleen MacMahon's fourth novel, and the follow up to her Women's Prize longlisted novel Nothing But Blue Sky (one of my favourite books of 2020). The Home Scar is a slow-paced, deep-thinking novel about three people, for whom life irreversibly changed after one carefree summer. The Home Scar refers to the mark that limpets make on rocks when they return to them repeatedly - the home scar lets in oxygen and seawater, and keeps the limpets alive.

Cassie and Christo, siblings who share the same mother, spent one glorious childhood summer in Connemara, their last with their mother before she died. When Christo, a mathematics professor at Cambridge, reads a news story about the emergence of an ancient drowned forest in Connemara, he contacts Chrissie in Mexico City and asks her to accompany him on a trip to Connemara. The trip dredges up some complex memories and a realisation that all was not as it seemed to them as children, forcing them to confront the complexities of parental love, regret and betrayal. On their trip they meet a childhood friend Seamus who must confront his own ghosts.

I struggled a little with this book. I adored the writing but found the story very slow, and I never really connected with Christo or Cassie as characters. When the siblings reached Connemara, I felt the book came into its own. The Connemara landscape is vividly alive and some of the local characters felt more convincing to me than Christo and Cassie (Jim, Seamus and Tilly in particular). The siblings' mother, a central character in the story in many ways, is never named (at least I don't recall reading her name), which I imagine was a deliberate device employed by the author - this is a story about the fallout from the abdication of parental responsibilities.

While there was something missing for me and it's hard to put my finger on what exactly that was, I would recommend it but be prepared for a somewhat slow, if beautifully written, read. 3.5/5 stars

[Derval · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really excellent, well-written book, full of likeable characters. I'm deducting a star because there was perhaps a bit too much tragedy in Cassie, Christo and Seamus' childhoods. I also didn't like the idea of Cassie's breakthrough not leading to a different relationship outcome. Very enjoyable overall though!

[Jenny Ryttare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Otrolig bok! Så himla vacker och mörk och fin! Fantastiska miljöbeskrivningar och jag har nog aldrig läst en sån välskriven bok! Det var spännande hur man fick veta mer och mer av personernas bakgrund - det var lite som att lägga ett pussel. Karaktärerna har varit med om mycket mörker och i början av boken känns de väldigt tragiska, men i slutet har de utvecklats och det märks att de mår bättre vilket var väldigt fint. En av mina favoritböcker någonsin!

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7 - from an airport in dublin like a year ago (deaccessioned)
this book has made me hollow. which i think was her goal so good job i guess. i feel i need to go stare at the night sky for a while but unfortunately its 11 am and im at work. i can only hope one day i will stop accidentally reading normal people by sally rooney. um

[Jenny Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.76. i liked this i feel like at some points it was v poignant and moving, i liked the way the story revealed more of itself as it went on, like a shy creature. missing a bit of bite or something for me but i think at this point guys its a me problem :O

[Orla Connell · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Brenda Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written with vivid description of the Irish landscape. A slow burn with , at times, poignant description of the difficult childhoods experienced by the three main characters.
However, there was something missing in terms of the characters coming to life and in places their relationships did not ring true. I agree with another reviewer that the portrayal of the nun was far removed from the likely reality at the time.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful read (so many Irish novels this year) about grown up frailty. Cassie (Mexico City artist) and her brother Christo (Cambridge academic) return to a coastal village near Galway the place of their happiest summer in a turbulent childhood.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this, although the first two thirds more than the last third. Felt it didn't fully wrap up the characters' stories.

[Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, with gorgeous descriptive language bringing the story to life. It is a sad story of loss and damaged childhoods leading to adults afraid to embrace and live life to the fullest. Despite the theme, I found the story uplifting. The author captures the beauty and desolation of the west coast of Ireland. She must really love this part of Ireland to do it so much justice. What I really liked is she does not romanticise it, we feel how bleak it can be but also how extraordinarily beautiful.

The landscape is a very important part of the story as the main characters, Christo and Cassie, go back to the defining summer of their lives and try to piece it together based on memories linked to places and people. Again, I liked that the author doesn't deliver some redemption arc but rather slowly unwinds the events and feelings until Christo, Cassie and Seamus reach some place of understanding which for me delivers hope for the future.

I really enjoyed this book and would thoroughly recommend it.

[lorrainelowereads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really disappointing. What actually happens in this book can be summed up like this; adult siblings decide to re-visit a rural part of Ireland (for a random reason) where they spent one summer of their childhood, to find a woman they had both loved has been dead for years and their mother played a part in her death. That’s it. Everything else is background and memories, which are neither interesting or exciting. I couldn’t believe how, when Cassie and Christo found out about the affair their mother had been having with Jim and that it inadvertently led to Margot’s death, they were initially sad but very quickly got over it and were really happy to see Jim (never mentioning the role he played in Margot’s death) and just get on with their little trip to Ireland (without trying to dig any deeper into what happened). I gave it two stars instead of one because I thought some of the characterisation was very good (especially Christo).

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christo and Cassie return to County Galway, a place where, in their memory, they spent a perfect summer. Where they were part of Jim, Margo and Seamus’ family. They go back but the memories aren’t perfect; they are tragic as well.
MacMahon captures the beauty and desolation of the western side of Ireland beautifully. It was fun to read it while in Galway.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book hurt my feelings. A decent book but not a fun read. Three adults with unresolved trauma find healing whilst reliving one childhood summer in memories and flashbacks.

It’s a hopeful story with a positive end but one I read mostly with a grimace on my face. I felt relieved to have finished it. Unlikely to read again.

[Tripfiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novel set in GALWAY



I was tempted by this novel when I saw it was billed as a good read for fans of Maggie O’Farrell, Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout and Tessa Hadley,

This is quite a gentle read, the story of two siblings, with the same mother who meet up in Ireland to revisit a childhood summer in the early 1980s. Cassie lives with her beau in Mexico and Christo (in fact Jupiter Christo) lives in Cambridge and works as an academic.

They are now in middle age and older than their mother when she died, which is a sobering thought. They serendipitously find the cottage in which they stayed during that Summer and little has changed and they are also able to rent it once again.

As they talk and explore, they have very different views of their mother. Cassie spend more time with her and has distinct feelings of antipathy towards her. Christo is positive with his memories of his mother, less so with those of his father with whom he spent awkward time. His father was famous and Christo suffered with his grandiosity and the dynamics of the new family. I would have been really interested to understand more about the dynamics of the parenting because they are fundamental to the full picture of the unfolding story. It is almost as though the author has shied away from exploring the psychological impact of their mother’s ‘free child’ – in other words oftentimes irresponsible and neglectful – attitude to life. Rather than the 1980s the vibe was distinctly more 1960s.

Cassie and Christo have come to this area, lured by the exposure of a forest, usually covered by sea, a phenomenon of which they were aware when they were first in the area. Christo is more than curious to take a look.

They also run into a friend who was important them during that and of course life has moved on considerably, as they discover.

The story is told by a gifted author who has a really lovely and fluid writing style. The story itself perhaps felt just a little lacklustre at times, there was so much that could have made this a really wonderful exploration of family dynamics, memory and childhood experience. It felt like a veil lay over the story but then perhaps that was an intentional authorial choice, given that memory fades over time and things can often be mis-remembered and reformulated to suit.

[Hailey Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I bought it while I was in Scotland, so I feel like I had more of a connection to the book since I had recently visited that part of Europe. (I KNOW SCOTLAND AND IRELAND ARE DIFFERENT PLACES) But when the shore line or the winding roads were described I could picture myself in the setting more easily.

This book was a comforting and heart wrenching read. It follows 30 something, Cassie, and her half-brother, Christo, as they try to uncover the mystery left behind by the death of their clinically unstable mother. After reading a news article about a natural phenomenon in Ireland, Christo convinces Cassie to re-visit the island with him. They relive memories of the summer the siblings stayed there with their mother, their mother's friend Margo and her family, and find an unknown tragedy connected with their mother in the small coastal town where their mother went to school.

The book is very winding, and I enjoyed the story being told. It's not a very fast paced book, as far as action packed events. But I was intrigued the entire time I read it. I really loved the characters, (even with all their hurts and flaws) and couldn't wait to figure out what would happen to them.

[Julie Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Penguin Books for the early copy and sorry it has taken me so long to write about it.

My first Kathleen MacMahon, this book is about neglectful parents, touching sibling love, affairs, Galway in Ireland and childhood friendships.

The writing is mainly very good and I wanted to keep reading it. However, it could be my age but I kept getting confused with the parents and had to keep pausing to remind myself who was who's father / mother. I didn't think the characters of Cassie and Christo were particularly authentic and there were also parts that were quite childlike and jarring - eg. when they're playing the game OWLS on the plane. Maybe it's because it is emulating their childhood but it felt too simplistic and incongruous with the rest of the text.

The title is great though, and loved the explanation of why.

[Nesha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really enjoyable read and quite inspiring. It reminded me why I enjoyed studying English and analysing beautiful, imaginative writing. Kathleen MacMahon is an amazing story teller who sets the scene expertly and really makes you feel like you are standing in the wild landscape of West Ireland. I enjoyed the general story and characters but there are a few parts I think could have been further developed but instead were brushed over a little by the characters (e.g. discovering something about their past but then not really digging any deeper into it, instead sort of just accepting it).

I wouldn’t necessarily pick this book up to read a second time for the plot, but I would happily read it again for the language/writing.

[Emer Tannam · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
I put myself under pressure to finish this book by the end of the year, which tainted my experience of it. But overall, I enjoyed it, the style was very readable. I suppose I didn’t really believe in it though, the background of the main characters was too dramatic, the relationship between the siblings pretty weird. At one point, the brother comes into the bathroom moments after the sister was staring at herself naked in the mirror. Some of it was very cheesy. The kindly nun? I don’t believe in her. And I hated the sister’s love interest, and felt as suffocated as her by him, even though it seems like we were supposed to be rooting for her to accept his love.
But yeah, I didn’t hate it overall.

[Alva · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written poignant novel set in the West of Ireland. We meet Cassie and Christo who are trying to deal with their past, to come to terms with past trauma, relationships, family. Individually, their stories are full of angst and regret, yet their resumed relationship with each other is full of love, of recognition for the people they used to be. I love the skill and tenderness Kathleen MacMahon uses to tell the story of Cassie, Christo and Seamus, how their parents' behaviour shaped the rest of their lives. This is a delicate intricate, exquisite story of exploration, realisation, redemption, acknowledgement and moving on. A totally splendid read.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathleen writes beautifully . She portrays her characters realistically and tenderly . She shows a great understanding of the influence of parenting . Christo and Cassie , both had the same mother but different fathers , come together to share memories . They reveal many things about their youth and what appeared to be a great summer in Connemara . On meeting with Seamus and Jim many experiences are remembered and they finally come to terms with their youth .
Wonderful descriptions of Connemara landscape .

[Hannah Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This met and exceeded my expectations. There is something so cosy and nostalgic about MacMahon’s writing that just makes me well up when I read it. She writes memories and childhood and growth so well with such lovely intricate detail that I felt I was the one who’d grown up in West Ireland. For what is a simple and unassuming plot, she works wonders to make it compelling and captivating - I couldn’t put this down. I just loved this!!

[Siobhan Moriarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book set in Connemara, telling the story of Cassie and Christo returning to Ireland where they had spent one glorious Summer with their mother. The writing is beautiful. The story is poignant. They are trying to find their mother who died when they were so young. Lots of interesting characters in it and I could really feel Connemara. I loved it.

[Gillian McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story while I’ve been in Ireland. Many familiar places and narratives throughout. The heartache of family, love, loss, and growing up makes it hit close to home and I almost felt like another characters along for the journey. Enjoyed very much.

[Jamie Klingler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going home and writing past wrongs and replaying out childhood battles and triumphs and relationships is always going to be simmering close to the surface for me. And I thought she did it beautifully and with messy complications and realisations.

[Lynne Reeves Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

After having just visited Galway and the Connemara area of Ireland, this novel was a delight to read. Emotionally resonant as well, I highly recommend this sibling story of a shared origin story yet with different perspectives.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read on the train from Berlin to Hamburg, I really enjoyed the subtle way we discovered info on Cassie and Christo’s childhood. We get to know them and their story gradually and this is mirrored in their search for information from their mother. Solid read.

[Brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I enjoyed the writing towards the middle and end, I found the book very slow and hard to get in to. Though the story of discovering parts of your parents you are ignorant to as a child (as one should be) is relatable in the characters.

[Emily Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book with slow burning, complex emotional trajectories and fascinating descriptions of the Irish landscape (so yes, another ‘I want to be there’ book, rain or no rain!) A seriously underrated author; I hope another book is on the way.