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The Irish Goodbye

The Irish Goodbye is about three sisters returning to their family home on the shores of Eastern Long Island for Thanksgiving, each carrying lingering grief and guilt over their brother’s tragic death years earlier. When an unexpected guest from their past arrives, long-buried secrets and resentments resurface—and threaten to shatter their fragile reunion. Far more than the holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive and accept themselves—and each other.

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The official "Read With Jenna” book club pick for October

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Now Available!

from Henry Holt

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Order the audiobook here:

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Praise for The Irish Goodbye

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“The Irish Goodbye has it all: a lovable cast of complex characters; forbidden affairs; a stately, crumbling beach house; a doomed sailboat; long-suppressed family secrets; and one pressure cooker of a holiday weekend. Above all, this finely crafted novel explores what it means to be a family and what we owe each other and ourselves.”

— Amy Shearn

Award-winning author
of Animal Instinct and Unseen City

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“A sparkling debut, The Irish Goodbye is a rich, compassionate novel about sisterhood, marriage, grief, and forgiveness.”

— Jenny Jackson

New York Times bestselling author
of Pineapple Street

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“The family saga we all need—utterly un-put downable, beautifully drawn, thrilling and heartfelt at once and totally not to be missed. Heather has arrived with gorgeous skills and a keen eye for what drives families apart, and brings them together, too.”

— Jessica Soffer

New York Times bestselling author
of This Is a Love Story

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"Lovingly rendered and acutely felt, The Irish Goodbye takes the reader into the aching, complicated nooks and crannies of a single family trying to find their way back to one another, even as none is sure they have hold of themselves. A beautiful and moving debut."

— Lynn Steger Strong

Author of The Float Test

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“Emotionally gripping and achingly poignant, The Irish Goodbye is about the secrets we keep from our families and from ourselves. In the Ryans, Heather Aimee O’Neill has created a family that, despite its glimmering specificity, could very well be our own. Mesmerizing.”

— Daisy Alpert Florin

Author of My Last Innocent Year

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"The Irish Goodbye is truly un-put downable—I picked it up one morning and finished it later that night, unable to do anything else until I got to the end. These characters captured my heart, and I got lost in this family weekend full of secrets, resentment, and emotional landmines. Heather Aimee O’Neill has written a beautiful debut about family, grief, love, and loss. "

— Jennifer Close

Author of Marrying The Ketchups

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About the Author

Heather Aimee O’Neill is the author of two poetry collections: Memory Future (winner of the University of Southern California’s Gold Line Press Award) and Obliterations (co-authored with Jessica Piazza, published by Red Hen). Her debut novel, The Irish Goodbye, will be published by Henry Holt in September 2025. As a developmental editor and assistant director of the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, she has worked with hundreds of writers who have gone on to publish with major publishing houses. She lives in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, with her beautiful wife, two sons, and—she hopes, one day—a dog.