She sits on a chair and stares out at the greyness, at the studio at the bottom of the garden. She tries to ignore the stone in her abdomen, and though it has begun to move, to ripple at times, she cannot think of it as anything other than something inanimate. A heaviness that will sink her to the bottom of the ocean. Nothing can live in this environment, the acidic sorrow inside her.
page 104
Table of Contents
Why Saoirse?
I first heard about Saoirse from kat’s field notes’ highly anticipated literary fiction releases i’m excited for in 2026 video that came out in late January 2026. At the time I thought that the premise of the book sounded interesting and since I have been getting more into literary fiction I put it on my to-be-read pile and put in a hold for it at the library.
My hold for the book arrived on the seventh of March and I got around to reading it a week later because I had The AI Con and Beloved in my queue before this book. This is my first time reading anything by Charleen Hurtubise and according to the information available for this book, this is her worldwide debut, her previous book (The Polite Act of Drowning) was only available in Ireland.
An interesting thing of note – Saoirse is published by two different publishers. In the UK and the Commonwealth (excluding Canada), the book is published by Eriu, an imprint of Bonnier Books. In the US and Canada, the book is published by Celadon Books. I read the edition published by Celadon Books.
Okay, now let’s get into it.
The Book
Saoirse is a literary fiction novel that follows the story of the main character, the titular Saoirse from her childhood in Florida, her teen years in Boston and then her adult life in Ireland. In case you were wondering like I was, the name is pronounced Sear-sha and is an Irish female name meaning “freedom”, facts that are on a page at the very beginning of the book which I appreciated.
The events of Saoirse start in 1990 and go all the way through the 90s and ends in 2003. Most of the book takes place in Donegal, Ireland with brief memory recollection sections that take place in the main character’s childhood and early teen years in America, more specifically in Florida and in Boston.
Characters
The entirety of the book is from the perspective of the main character, Saoirse. I am grateful that this book sticks to just the one perspective because I have been reading books with multiple character perspectives and I am a bit tired of that. I found Saoirse to be a complex, believable character who was well fleshed out throughout the story. I also found it interesting that Saoirse’s life mimicked the author’s on a surface level.
Born in Florida to a French-Canadian father and an Irish mother, she spent much of her childhood in Michigan, her early adult years in Boston, and has now lived half of her life in Ireland, which is home. She lives in Dublin but the pull of Donegal and its mesmerizing landscapes influence both her writing and her visual arts practice.
Author bio for Charleen Hurtubise on Celadon Books’ website
The rest of the cast of characters is also very intriguing. In some ways Saoirse is a family drama and the drama of the Byrne family and the various members of the family – Paul, Nuala, Vivienne – all play key roles in the story and are characterized well enough to not make them entirely cardboard cutouts. Paul especially is infuriating and kudos to Charleen Hurtubise for writing a character that I despise with my whole heart.
I was especially fond of Catherine, one of Saoirse’s friends and the heartwarming quality of the close friendship between these two women really moved me. Just a really wonderful character to have. There were also a few characters from Saoirse’s childhood (Lou, Eddie) and teen years that make an appearance throughout the memory sections of the book and these characters while more vague recollections than full characters still form a vital part of our main character’s story.
Themes
For a book that is only 256 pages, Saoirse packs a punch thematically speaking. There is a lot happening in here and one would do well to heed content warnings as the book deals with some heavy subject matter which some folks will find triggering. Namely Saoirse deals with themes of sexual assault, domestic abuse, pregnancy & abortion.
Saoirse tries to gather herself. She sits on the edge of the bed soothing her wailing daughter, ashamed and bewildered, knowing her loss of control had less to do with Paul making assumptions, violating her privacy, catching her at an unguarded moment – and everything to do with the swish of a shower curtain, the violent memory of a man entering, unwanted, into her most private space.
page 104
I was pleasantly surprised by how well this book managed to effectively portray all of these very complex themes without it feeling callous or shallow. I think this is partly because the character work here is very good. Throughout the narrative, the level of interiority that we get from Saoirse makes it so that the mess she finds herself in was truly emotionally resonant.
It also helps that the story grounds itself in the reality of Irish politics of the era, the book pointedly makes direct reference to the Eight Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which states:
The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.
Wikipedia contributors. “Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Mar. 2026. Web. 16 Mar. 2026.
The book does not shy away from depicting how Saoirse’s lack of bodily autonomy when it comes to her first pregnancy adds another layer to all the trauma she has dealt with within her life. I appreciate when books are unsubtle with their thematic messaging and that is the case here as well.
That brings me to a similarity between Saoirse and the book I read just before this Beloved which is the themes of memory and time, one which happens to be a pleasant coincidence. I did not plan to read two books that deal with memory and time albeit in very different ways but here we are.
This book chooses to use visual art as the medium for recollection. More specifically, Saoirse is a painter and she uses her art to process her feelings and trauma. So in turn, the book uses these chapters named after various paintings of hers to show a bit of memory from her early childhood and teen years. The first one for example is called “Lavender”, an oil painting on board which is a portrayal of a memory from when Saoirse was just three years old.
I found this way of connecting Saoirse’s life to her art and thus to her emotions & traumatic experiences to be quite effective as a form of characterization. From her childhood to her adulthood, her relationships with her friends, her falling in love, her dealing with pregnancy – all of it becomes art. The art of life, as it were.
Concluding Thoughts
Saoirse is a compelling character study which uses elements of a family drama in conjunction with nuanced depictions of heavy themes to weave a beautiful tapestry of a life. I read this book in one sitting on a Sunday morning and it was an intensely good reading experience all the way through.
I am definitely interested in reading whatever else Charleen Hurtubise is going to write in the future, especially if it is going to be literary fiction like this. I am grateful to kat of kat’s field notes for the mention of this book which I most likely would not have heard of otherwise.
That’s all from me, see y’all in the next one.
Thank you for reading this blog post. Please consider supporting my writing work directly through Stripe or Patreon. Additionally, please share this post on your socials and/or with your friends. It really helps! If you have any thoughts/feedback/thoughtful criticism to share, feel free to use the handy contact me page to send that to me.