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Strange meeting

When distraught teenage Orla embarks on a secret pilgrimage to her mother’s grave, she meets a ‘mad hairy’ man with miraculous powers

18 March 2023

9:00 AM

18 March 2023

9:00 AM

The Gospel of Orla Eoghan Walls

Seven Stories Press, pp.224, 10.99

It’s been two months since 14-year-old Orla’s mother died of cancer, and the girl isn’t coping. Neither is her father. While he self-medicates with booze, she plots her escape, to her aunt’s in Northern Ireland, where her mum is buried:

I am sad to go but it is time now and there is no point in hanging around any longer.

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