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A Song for Issy Bradley
A Song for Issy Bradley
Jan 2, 2026 6:19 PM

Author:Carys Bray

A Song for Issy Bradley

WINNER OF THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2015

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2015 AND THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2015

Meet the Bradleys.

In lots of ways, they’re a normal family:

Zippy is sixteen and in love for the first time; Al is thirteen and dreams of playing for Liverpool.

And in some ways, they’re a bit different:

Seven-year-old Jacob believes in miracles. So does his dad.

But these days their mum doesn’t believe in anything, not even getting out of bed.

How does life go on, now that Issy is gone?

Reviews

I cannot remember a time when a novel has seduced me so completely . . . Bray writes with such clarity, intelligence and authenticity that it feels as if a trusted old friend is telling you the story, that the characters are people you know.

—— The Times

Wonderful ... heartbreaking, compassionate and funny.

—— Shelley Harris , Independent on Sunday

Bray explores the healing power of religion with rare assurance in one of the year's most impressive debuts.

—— Mail on Sunday

Bray brings humour, empathy and knowledge to what is fundamentally a novel about grief and faith ... Read this if you like: Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You.

—— Harper's Bazaar

I loved this tender, moving, funny and deeply truthful story about a family and a faith tested to breaking-point.

—— Helen Dunmore, author of THE LIE

A brilliant debut, compelling and profoundly moving.

—— Nathan Filer, Costa winner of THE SHOCK OF THE FALL

A terrific book . . . I loved A SONG FOR ISSY BRADLEY ... it’s moving and comforting in a way that makes sense even to the agnostic.

—— Nick Hornby

A powerful, heart-breaking book.

—— Daily Express

unique . . . beautifully written . . . powerful

—— Daily Mail

Bray slips with thoroughness, imagination and dexterity into each of the characters' consciousness . . . [She] is wincingly honest and emotions are portrayed with an assurance that comes from understanding . . . A Song for Issy Bradley is a skilful and empathetic dramatisation. The fact that it deals with such distressing subject matter without falling prey to sentimentality makes it all the more admirable . . . There are some wonderful one-liners . . .Bray's greatest gift, however, is understatement.

—— Grace McCleen , Guardian

Happy the debut novelist who can write well but who also has access to extraordinary subject matter. This is an impressive debut from a compassionate, wise and original new voice.

—— Suzi Feay , Independent

Bray performs a small miracle of her own by inhabiting each family member at every stage of the tragedy as their doubts and fears creep in . . . [and] manages it with an astonishing lightness of touch . . . A stunning, unmissable debut.

—— Christie Hickman , Sunday Express

While this debut is heart-rendingly poignant with a bleak tragedy at its heart, it's also funny and vividly written.

—— Sunday Mirror

I loved A SONG FOR ISSY BRADLEY: such courage, warmth and intelligence. Carys Bray sweetly and subtly breaks your heart. It's an incredible debut.

—— Charlotte Mendelson, author of Booker-longlisted ALMOST ENGLISH and Orange Prize-shortlisted, WHEN WE WERE BAD

Such strong writing, with so much fine imagery . . . very moving. It sings. The characters are completely believable and their grief is conveyed with a truly admirable, unsentimental lightness of touch, which brought laughter between the tears.

—— Emma Henderson, author of Orange-shortlisted GRACE WILLIAMS SAYS IT LOUD

In places it is devastating, but it is also unexpectedly funny, even joyful, a hugely impressive novel about what it means to grieve – and to be part of a family.

—— The Bookseller

I was hooked by this beadily observed and moving portrayal of grief, doubt and faith.

—— Debut of the Month , Woman & Home

Uncontrollable bawling on public transport alert! … Deeply effecting… A seriously impressive debut

—— Glamour magazine

Just beautiful.

—— Mostly Yummy Mummy blog

One calls this a novel but it could just as easily be a selection of short stories, each perfect of its kind… This is masterly prose… It’s a feat.

—— Melanie McDonagh , Evening Standard

This is a rich, capacious story, buoyed by tender humour.

—— Ron Charles , Washington Post

It’s Enright’s ability to capture with such wit and exactitude the multi-faceted, many-textured realities of her character’ lives that keeps the pages turning.

—— Stephanie Cross , Daily Mail

With The Forgotten Waltz in 2011…Anne Enright really found her voice. She returns to it in her new novel, The Green Road.

—— The Economist

As the book snaps shut you almost want to applaud. That’s how good The Green Road…really is.

—— Cath Turner , Nudge

A beautifully observed study of motivation and memory, nuanced and funny and sad.

—— Eithne Farry, 5 stars , Daily Express

This is an insightful family portrait, by turns sensitive and stark, in which the challenges of modern life are tempered by moments of grace.

—— Image

A piercingly beautiful collection of set pieces about the unresolved ebb and flow of family relationships.

—— Claire Allfree, 4 stars , Metro

Enright has delivered a fine work about how you can’t escape the past.

—— John Dennehy , National

[A] wonderful book.

—— Woman’s Way

The novel of [Enright’s] already storied career.

—— Irish Central

With language so vibrant it practically has a pulse, Enright makes an exquisitely drawn case for the possibility of growth, love and transformation at any age.

—— People Magazine

No-one quite matches Enright for her quality of writing, her deftness of insight.

—— Neil Stewart , Civilian

This is a captivating, spellbinding evocation of how your nearest and not-so-dearest can wreak emotional havoc.

—— Psychologies

Glitteringly good.

—— Kerry Fowler , Sainsbury’s Magazine

The Green Road has been receiving glowing reviews and it's easy to see why. The story, set over four decades, gives us deep insights into the five main characters, all of whom tell us something about ourselves as Irish people, and all of whom you are sorry to leave as a reader.

—— Edel Coffey , Irish Independent

Enright is the most extraordinary writer – her style is simple and honest, no gimmicks, just straight to the heart.

—— Victoria Hislop , Sainsbury’s Magazine

A powerful evocation of leaving and returning home.

—— Ruth Scurr , Financial Times

Masterful.

—— Fiona Wilson , The Times

Watch out for it come Man Booker time.

—— Sunday Times

Enright captures beautifully the tensions of…forced festive gatherings, the sibling rivalry and the maternal melancholy of a woman who does not understand her feelings towards her own children.

—— Good Book Guide

Richly and sensuously realised, it’s vivid with the particularity of places and people and bruisingly intelligent.

—— Tessa Hadley , Guardian

Enright shows real insight and perception when it comes to family relationships. It’s a well-structured and well-paced narrative.

—— Mandy Jenkinson , Nudge

Written with raw and brutal honesty, this is one to savour.

—— Justine Carbery , Irish Independent

Enright’s writing is sharp and lucid and full of beautiful phrases and descriptions.

—— Reading Matters

I love Enright’s style and the spidering out of the siblings’ lives.

—— Claire Skinner , Daily Express

There is beauty and darkness, hypocrisy and humility; it wouldn’t be an Irish novel without them.

—— Sarah Churchwell , New Statesman

The Green Road, about one Irish family, confronts all that is essential: love, death, mothers and our own flawed selves. It is written with a kind of tenderness, beauty and insight that transmogrifies humdrum experience into the epiphanic and back again.

—— Arifa Akbar , Independent

Blisteringly funny and keenly perceptive.

—— Peter Kemp , Sunday Times

Deeply affecting, crackling with wit, and consistently magnificent.

—— Stephanie Cross , Daily Mail

A globe-trotting, kaleidoscopic portrait of Irish siblings and their difficult mother.

—— Justine Jordan , Guardian

A magnificent novel about family and belonging told in stark yet sparkling prose.

—— Stylist

A fierce, funny, loosely woven family saga.

—— Alex Preston , Observer

[A] darkly glinting novel of family life.

—— Ruth Scurr , The Spectator

A bravura example of shifting voices and perspectives, all of which benefit from Enright’s splendid prose and careful restraint.

—— Sarah Churchwell , New Statesman

Enright dissects [her character’s] foibles with warmth, wit and a bracing lack of sentimentality.

—— Simon Kuper , Financial Times

A book you don’t put down until it is finished, dragging you right into the heart of another Irish family as only Anne Enright can.

—— Keelin Shanley , Irish Times

A family saga, beginning with intense and beautifully detailed character studies.

—— Mark O'Halloran , Irish Times

I... enjoyed The Green Road for the dialogue, the clever narrative structure, and the gnarled, contemporary sense of family values.

—— Paul Durcan , Irish Times

I could not put it down. Chapter two is a masterpiece.

—— Edna O'Brien , Irish Times

Stylish prose that charts the fortunes and misfortunes of this family over a period of 25 years.

—— Anne O'Neill , Irish Times

In this brilliant, captivating novel, the poised, impossible and always disappointed matriarch Rosaleen Madigan makes life difficult for her children at a Christmas gathering.

—— Charlotte Heathcote , Sunday Express

Few Novelists pick apart domestic relationships with the poetry and precision of Anne Enright.

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

Sharp yet oh so subtle storytelling […] this is an author at the height of her formidable powers.

—— Stephen Meyler , RTE Guide

An exquisitely written portrait of a family, and a country, on the cusp of enormous change.

—— Paul Nolan , Hot Press

Exquisitely written and hugely enjoyable.

—— National

A brilliant approach to the sadness of a disconnected family, who are like satellites out of sync.

—— Anthony Cummins , Sunday Telegraph

Enright’s virtuosic tale of an Irish family- the Madigans- across continents and decades withholds closure but doesn’t skimp on pleasure

—— five stars , Daily Telegraph

A compelling novel, full of astute observations, beautifully written, sometimes stark and other times aching with longing

—— Collette Sheridan , Irish Examiner

The sweep of the book and Anne Enright's way fo pulling this global migratuon story together with such energy and detail puts her in somewhere beside Toni Morrison

—— Independent, Ireland

Heart-wrenching novel… The surgical precision of Enright’s writing makes you feel that she can, in Wordsworth’s words, “see into the life of things”. There is a singing simplicity to it that tugs at your heart…A masterly work.

—— Christina Patterson , Sunday Times

Beautifully observed. Enright is a great writer.

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

Bold and brilliant.

—— The Week

Incredible… I’m totally captivated.

—— Annie Mac , The Sunday Times

An evocative story about family ties and belonging.

—— Western Morning News

A brilliant read.

—— Western Morning News

A story of fracture and family, selfishness and compassion.

—— SheerLuxe.com

Sharply funny portrait of an Irish family meeting for a final Christmas.

—— Metro

Within pages I was wrapped in the warmth of Enright’s prose… This is a beautiful book… Enright is unquestionably a fantastic writer who, for me with this novel, conjured up the world of a family with all its highs and lows that felt like they might be having this reunion down the end of your road… Enright does two of my favourite things in fiction. She makes the ordinary, and everything we take for granted, seem extra ordinary. She also gives voices to those who have not been able to share their tales… The writing is stunning.

—— Simon Savidge , Savidge Reads

An evocative story about family ties and belonging. Anne Enright is deservedly a well-respected writer.

—— Western Morning News

Enright's novels are fantastically well-crafted, eloquent and funny… Each character is beautifully realized… She finds unexpected adjectives, brilliantly exact description, the spot-on emotion. Her writing is lyrical but always unsentimental. There is pleasure in reading every paragraph, and an enormous wisdom throughout the pages.

—— Mumsnet

Truly wonderful… The dialogue is particularly brilliant… It completely envelops you in the story and will leave you wanting more.

—— Belfast Telegraph Morning

Wonderful… The dialogue is particularly brilliant, capturing all the barbed snappiness of dinner with siblings.

—— Herald

I fell headfirst into the beautifully written prose of this novel, so authentic and charming in its telling of one Irish family over more than two decades. Each vibrant character gets a turn in almost short stories of their own that feel almost like entities in their own right. I adored it.

—— Cathy Levy , Red Online

A resonant, masterly work.

—— Sunday Times

[An] exceptional novel.

—— David Nicholls , Guardian

This is a flawless book, it’s utterly flawless… It has just touched so many other readers. This book is heartbreaking… A beautiful examination of unhappy families… The power of Anne’s writing is you all see a reflection of your own family…it’s tender and it’s beautiful and deserves to be widely read.

—— Victoria Sadler

Enright is undoubtedly one of our most prominent novelists

—— Elif Shafak , Week
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