Gratitude

'Extraordinary ... The beating heart of this novel is the exquisite empathy it demonstrates ... There is a gentle magnificence at work in its pages' Irish Times 'Tender, poignant and heartfelt ... A generous novel that celebrates communication, connection and courage' Daily Mail Marie owes Michka more than she can say - but Michka is getting older, and can't look after herself any more. So Marie has moved her to a home where she'll be safe. But Michka doesn't feel any safer; she is haunted by strange figures who threaten to unearth her most secret, buried guilt, guilt that she's carried since she was a little girl. And she is losing her words – grasping more desperately day by day for what once came easily to her. Jérôme is a speech therapist, dispatched to help the home's ageing population snatch and hold tight onto the speech still afforded to them. But Michka is no ordinary client. Michka has been carrying an old debt she does not know how to repay – and as her words slide out of her grasp, time is running out. Delicately wrought and darkly gripping, Gratitude is about love, loss and redemption; about what we owe one another, and the redemptive power of showing thanks.