Claire Hennessy

Author: Claire Hennessy

Genre: Children’s (YA)

Julia Jacobs is fat. That’s the first thing Annabel notices when she’s assigned as Julia’s mystical ghostly helper (don’t call her a guardian angel), and it doesn’t bode well.

Annabel might be minus her body these days but she still appreciates the discipline and control that leads to being thin – while Julia seems more interested in the school newspaper, what’s going on in politics, and what she’s going to do in college.

When Julia’s newly-single crush Gavin kisses her at a party, fulfilling a long-time fantasy, she runs away from him, and any help he offers when she’s appointed editor of the school paper feels like a slap. As Annabel tries to figure Julia out, she offers the only advice she can: stop eating. It’s the only thing Annabel was ever good at. (So good at it that it killed her. Beat that.)

As newspaper-related tensions with her friends increase, Julia’s tempted to let Gavin get closer, even with a voice in her head confirming all the ugly thoughts she’s ever had about herself. And as the connection between them strengthens, Annabel realises that there’s something Julia won’t let herself think about, something that she’s never told anyone. That maybe this is not about weight but about secrets – and that Annabel’s view of the world might be completely off-kilter after all.

Eleanor and Park meets The Lovely Bones with a bite, Nothing Tastes as Good is a sharp and pacy novel for YA readers.

“Absolutely phenomenal”
- Cat Clarke

Author: Claire Hennessy

Genre: Fiction

Here’s what Lauren knows: she’s not like other girls. She also knows it’s problematic to say that – what’s wrong with girls?

She’s even fancied some in the past. But if you were stuck in St Agnes, her posh all-girls school, you’d feel like that too. Here everyone’s expected to be Perfect Young Ladies, it’s even a song in the painfully awful musical they’re putting on this year. And obviously said musical is directed by Lauren’s arch nemesis.

Under it all though, Lauren’s heart is bruised. Her boyfriend thinks she’s crazy and her best friend has issues of her own… so when Lauren realises she’s facing every teenage girl’s worst nightmare, she has nowhere to turn. Maybe she should just give in to everything. Be like other girls. That’s all so much easier … right?

“Magnificent! It all-but quivers with righteous anger!”
- Marian Keyes

“This is a book that demands to be read....A must-read for young socially aware and newly intrigued minds alike.”
- The Irish Times

“A passionate, authentic, tough read but very important nonetheless.”
- The Irish Independent

“I was impressed with the writing style (and I learned a fair bit too)... a conversation starter for young women.”
- Women’s Way

“It is difficult to imagine a more difficult authorial task than constructing a school story that also confronts issues such as sexual identity, moral law, transgender issues and parental responsibility. Yet somehow Hennessy has succeeded. High school librarians please take note.”
- Books for Keeps

“Topical, relevant and captivating, this is an unflinching examination of gender politics and identity, relentless in its exploration of femininity.”
- Inis, Reading Guide 2017

Author: Claire Hennessy

Genre: Literary Fiction

In the Movie of Her Life, Claire Hennessy’s adult fiction debut, is a work of edgy, voice-driven short stories that go to dark places with gut-wrenching honesty that few writers can master.

Haunted by the gap between what they imagined their lives would be and what they really are, these characters grapple with unspeakable longings and quiet devastation.

“As inquisitive and inspiring as one has come to expect from a Claire Hennessy book, and yet somehow even moreso, a voice of pure fury, passion and humour; we’re lucky to have a writer like this in our midst”
- Alice Kinsella, author of Milk (Picador)

“Pitch-dark, razor-sharp. Keenly observed and compelling, the reader has the sense of being confined to an artfully constructed prison cell they won’t want to leave.”
- Deirdre Sullivan, author of I Want To Know That I Will Be Okay (Banshee Press)

“There is love, then there is let-down. There is blind acceptance of one’s lot, then there is a deep, hidden license to howl down the waiting room and expose the surgery of life for the big dirty lie that it is. At last: relatable modern spiky topics, written with laser-tool precision, exposing, common wounds. Slick-dark, narky in part, and side-splittingly funny.”
- June Caldwell, author of Room Little Darker (New Island)

“…her tales flow like arresting, fitful dreams. You effortlessly insert yourself into the situations she has created and at least seven could potentially grow into their own books. They are offbeat, provocative and sardonically witty. At times, they can be rather scary: wait until you get to Colony.”
- Sophie Grenham, The Irish Times

“What struck me particularly was the originality of Claire’s voice and her uncompromising observations about the emotional shifts that we often find difficult to admit to, let alone describe with such a cool, unflinching eye… Running through all this work is a seam of honesty whose impact has stayed with me.”
- Catherine Dunne, author of A Good Enough Mother (BeTimes Books)

“A gritty collection of imaginative writing and devastating observation… Claire Hennessy’s debut adult fiction short story collection is sparky with mostly contemporary (and some futuristic) stories… It’s dark in places with an understanding that not everything works out well in the end. … [‘The Last Party’] is a chilling tale, displaying Claire Hennessy’s imaginative powers in this varied collection.”
- Colette Sheridan, The Irish Examiner

“This is short story writing with teeth. Elegant but unsparing and laced with dark humour - the kind that makes you laugh before making you wince. Hennessy has a rare talent for nailing the quiet devastations of modern life. The jobs that drain you, the friendships that rot, the relationships that curdle in real time. Her characters are messy, human and deliciously flawed women who don’t know what they want until it’s already slipping through their fingers, or worse, sitting in their lap… What makes Hennessy’s work so electric is that she doesn’t tidy things up. There are no neat resolutions, no easy catharsis. She lets her characters sit in the mess, forces us to watch them squirm. The result is a collection of stories that is fearless and alarmingly real.”
- Lorraine Courtney, The Irish Independent