Genre Fiction
![Eoghan Walls - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B0077GRAIK.jpg)
The Gospel of Orla
Most anticipated in the IRISH TIMES, TORONTO STAR • INDIE NEXT LIST PICK • LIBRARY READS SELECTION • PERFECT FOR BOOK CLUBS • DEBUT NOVEL
"A consistently surprising, evocative, almost impossible to put down, and gloriously original work." -Booklist
A stunning debut novel from the Northern Irish poet Eoghan Walls, The Gospel of Orla is the coming-of-age story of a young girl, Orla, and the man she meets who has an astonishing and unique ability.
It is also a road novel that takes us across the north of England after the two flee Orla's village together. Here the mysteries of faith charge full bore into the vagaries of contemporary mores. A humorous, wise, deeply human and sometimes breathtaking work of lyrical fiction.
"A melancholic, funny, and magical coming-of-age story, The Gospel of Orla is glorious, wise, and totally weird. I loved it." -Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals
"Utterly convincing and fresh and original." -Colm Tóibín, author of The Magician
"In his debut novel, poet Eoghan Walls imagines the intersection of the material and the mystic. . . . As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin." -Kia Corthron, author of Moon and the Mars
"A consistently surprising, evocative, almost impossible to put down, and gloriously original work." -Booklist
A stunning debut novel from the Northern Irish poet Eoghan Walls, The Gospel of Orla is the coming-of-age story of a young girl, Orla, and the man she meets who has an astonishing and unique ability.
It is also a road novel that takes us across the north of England after the two flee Orla's village together. Here the mysteries of faith charge full bore into the vagaries of contemporary mores. A humorous, wise, deeply human and sometimes breathtaking work of lyrical fiction.
"A melancholic, funny, and magical coming-of-age story, The Gospel of Orla is glorious, wise, and totally weird. I loved it." -Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals
"Utterly convincing and fresh and original." -Colm Tóibín, author of The Magician
"In his debut novel, poet Eoghan Walls imagines the intersection of the material and the mystic. . . . As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin." -Kia Corthron, author of Moon and the Mars
Editorial Reviews
"[Orla] is a brilliantly engaging protagonist. By blending a fable-like structure and Orla's grittily realistic voice, Walls has created a consistently surprising, evocative, almost impossible to put down, and gloriously original work." -Booklist
"The Gospel of Orla is written with immense control and precision so that the voice of the protagonist emerges as alive, individual and memorable. Eoghan Walls manages to make every single emotion Orla feels-every thought, response and action-utterly convincing and fresh and original." -Colm Tóibín, author of The Magician
"In his debut novel, poet Eoghan Walls imagines the intersection of the material and the mystic when a grieving adolescent stumbles upon a struggling savior. Walls provides an authentic and page-turning narrative from the perspective of his restless and ever-beguiling protagonist. As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin." -Kia Corthron, author of Moon and the Mars
"A melancholic, funny, and magical coming-of-age story, The Gospel of Orla is glorious, wise, and totally weird. I loved it." -Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals
"The Gospel of Orla is an astonishing feat of characterisation and storytelling. The prose is both earthy and sparkling and the story-equal parts bravado and vulnerability-is told with both wit and tenderness. Everyone should read this." -Jenn Ashworth, author of Ghosted
"Eoghan Walls writes with humour, inventiveness and irreverence in The Gospel of Orla. Its wholly convincing adolescent lead is neither hero, anti-hero, nor villain. The people she encounters are neither saints nor sinners, however we might mistake them for the same. This novel is exactly the sort of searching, truth-troubling story that Orla needs to read, that would surely stay with her." -Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Wild Laughter and Orchid & t...
"The Gospel of Orla is written with immense control and precision so that the voice of the protagonist emerges as alive, individual and memorable. Eoghan Walls manages to make every single emotion Orla feels-every thought, response and action-utterly convincing and fresh and original." -Colm Tóibín, author of The Magician
"In his debut novel, poet Eoghan Walls imagines the intersection of the material and the mystic when a grieving adolescent stumbles upon a struggling savior. Walls provides an authentic and page-turning narrative from the perspective of his restless and ever-beguiling protagonist. As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin." -Kia Corthron, author of Moon and the Mars
"A melancholic, funny, and magical coming-of-age story, The Gospel of Orla is glorious, wise, and totally weird. I loved it." -Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals
"The Gospel of Orla is an astonishing feat of characterisation and storytelling. The prose is both earthy and sparkling and the story-equal parts bravado and vulnerability-is told with both wit and tenderness. Everyone should read this." -Jenn Ashworth, author of Ghosted
"Eoghan Walls writes with humour, inventiveness and irreverence in The Gospel of Orla. Its wholly convincing adolescent lead is neither hero, anti-hero, nor villain. The people she encounters are neither saints nor sinners, however we might mistake them for the same. This novel is exactly the sort of searching, truth-troubling story that Orla needs to read, that would surely stay with her." -Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Wild Laughter and Orchid & t...
