Irish Book Awards Shortlist Library Journal Best Indie Fiction of the Year Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book Staff Pick Concord Monitor/Concord Insider Book of the Week Chatelaine magazine Book Club selection Brooklyn Book Festival Best Debut Book “ Ghost Moth is an impressive debut by a writer who is not afraid to address the so-called ordinary lives of real human beings.” — JOHN BANVILLE , Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea and Ancient Light “Clever, unpredictable, beautifully written and crafted.” — RODDY DOYLE , Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and The Commitments “[Forbes’] writing soaks up the world, and thrills to the beauty of it.” — ANNE ENRIGHT , Booker Prize-winning author of The Gathering and The Forgotten Waltz During the hot Irish summer of 1969, tensions rise in Belfast where Katherine, a former actress, and George, a firefighter, struggle to keep buried secrets from destroying their marriage. As Catholic Republicans and Protestant Loyalists clash during the “Troubles” and Northern Ireland moves to the brink of civil war, the lines between private anguish and public outrage disintegrate. An exploration of memory, childhood, illicit love, and loss, Ghost Moth is an exceptional tale about a family—and a country—seeking freedom from ghosts of the past. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Michèle Forbes is an award-winning theater, television, and film actress who has toured worldwide with The Great Hunger and Dancing at Lughnasa . She studied literature at Trinity College, Dublin and has worked as a literary reviewer for the Irish Times . Her short stories have received both the Bryan MacMahon and the Michael McLaverty Awards. She lives near Dalkey, Dublin with her husband and two children. Ghost Moth is her first novel. *Starred Review* Forbes’ debut novel is set in two eras—Belfast at the 1969 advent of the IRA’s campaign to get Great Britain out of Northern Ireland and in post-WWII 1949—and depicts the life of Katherine from early young adulthood through marriage and motherhood. The novel begins with the idyllic, if deceptive, picture of a loving marriage and stable family life on a rare day at the beach. A shattering argument between Katherine and her husband, George Bellows, ends the day, revealing layers of stress beneath a serene surface. As the story unfolds, readers will revel in the skillful writing: parallel narratives slowly reveal the secrets that both bind and separate husband and wife. The complex plot maintains suspense and reader interest as well as framing the deterioration of the marriage. Strong characterization presents a fully developed family, not just revealing Katherine and George but also all four children. Lyrical descriptions create a believable contrast, depicting Belfast in very different historical eras. Genre fans (Irish-history buffs, family-story readers, historical-fiction enthusiasts) will enjoy this novel, while its stylistic richness and narrative intricacy will also please readers of literary fiction. Highly recommended. --Ellen Loughran Irish Book Awards Shortlist Library Journal Best Indie Fiction of the Year Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book Staff Pick Concord Monitor/Concord Insider Book of the Week Chatelaine magazine Book Club selection Brooklyn Book Festival Best Debut Book “A Belfast-born actress with experience in film, theater, and television, Forbes draws from her own professional and personal background to imbue her protagonist with authentic energy and humanity . . . deftly explor[ing] the private and public struggles of this particular Catholic family with vivid, poetic language. . . . By the end, the truth―the brutal and the beautiful―rises to the surface of this eloquent novel.” ― Boston Globe “Evocative . . . Forbes’ writing is lovely.” ― Minneapolis Star Tribune “Forbes’s exquisite writing keeps Ghost Moth fresh and moving. This is a terrific novel, and like everything I’ve read from Bellevue Literary Press, it’s one that will stay with me.” ― Concord Monitor/Concord Insider “Forbes’ poetic language captures the soulfulness of Ireland while the story chronicles two very different points in Irish history. It’s an engaging plot with a dramatic sense of time and place, peopled by exquisitely drawn, fatally flawed characters wrestling with love and all its complications.” ― Chatelaine magazine “One might expect the debut novel of a talented actor like Forbes to be composed of action and dialogue. Ghost Moth, however, is told largely through simile and metaphor . . . The passages evoking Katherine's children are outstanding. The meditations on maternal and marital love verge on the profound. And the ending will bring a lump to your throat.” ― Guardian “This beautifully written first novel is about the kind of love that can never be blotted out . . . a tender, heartbreaking story about choices made and secrets kept too long.” ― Times (London)