Said the Dead

The award-winning author of A Ghost in the Throat discusses Said the Dead , her unforgettable polyphonic history of an institution that is both history and ghost story.

“Obliterates every clear definition of genre and form . . . Astounding and utterly fresh.” Irish Independent

A work of sublime intensity and tenderness, Said the Dead breaks boundaries and makes something new and lasting: an experience full of danger, love and truth.

In Cork city, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby has always flinched while passing the place. Had she lived in another time, she too might have found herself held within those walls. The for sale notice she spots becomes the first of many signs. Guided by an irresistible impulse, she follows them. Soon, she is trespassing, stealing, absconding from the routine of mother, spouse, daughter, as she uncovers a chorus of startling voices: those of the women who knew this place best. They murmur from archives and old records. They haunt from stairwells and walls. In them - and in one figure in particular - she may find meaning and solace, righteous anger, salvation even. Or her final vanishing?