Instructions for a Heatwave

The stunning new novel from Costa-Novel-Award-winning novelist Maggie O'Farrell: a portrait of an Irish family in crisis in the legendary heat wave of 1976.It's July 1976. In London, it hasn't rained for months, gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back. The search for Robert brings Gretta's children two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce back home, each wih different ideas as to where their father might have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share. Maggie O'Farrell's sixth book is the work of an outstanding novelist at the height of her powers.

It’s July 1976. In London, it hasn’t rained in months. Gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife, Gretta, that he is going around the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn’t return.

The search for Robert brings Gretta’s three children back home, each with different ideas as to where their father might have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share. A journey back to Connemara, Ireland, brings surprises, insights, and revelations, as each confronts the knotty triangle of family life and love.

Elegant and compelling, Instructions for a Heatwave secures Maggie O’Farrell’s position as one of the best of the new generation of British writers.