Prophet Song: A Novel (Booker Prize Winner)

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023 - INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Winner of the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize
Finalist for the 2024 Kirkus Prize

"A prophetic masterpiece." -- Ron Charles, Washington Post

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find two officers from Ireland's newly formed secret police on her step. They have arrived to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.

Ireland is falling apart, caught in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny. As the life she knows and the ones she loves disappear before her eyes, Eilish must contend with the dystopian logic of her new, unraveling country. How far will she go to save her family? And what--or who--is she willing to leave behind?

The winner of the Booker Prize 2023 and a critically acclaimed national bestseller, Prophet Song presents a terrifying and shocking vision of a country sliding into authoritarianism and a deeply human portrait of a mother's fight to hold her family together.

ADD TO MY SHELVES

Recommend book

BUY THE BOOK

320 pages

Average rating: 7.42

113 RATINGS

6 REVIEWS

These clubs recently read this book...

The Little Book Club Galway

DISCOVER MORE CLUBS

Community Reviews

Write a review...

Erick

Dec 22, 2024

10/10 stars

This book is upsetting.

Irisheve

Oct 27, 2024

10/10 stars

Past present future a definite sign of our times. Book was dark amazing read poetic prophecy.

Pete297

Sep 21, 2024

8/10 stars

dark and haunting, wouldn't read it again. A good deal to depressing for my liking but brilliant and poetic at the same time. A worthy winner in my opinion

Bigmedicine

May 03, 2024

Excellent

Diego I

Mar 29, 2024

8/10 stars

paul lynch’s ‘prophet song’ sings “not of the end of the world but what has been done and will be done..” reading ‘prophet song’ feels like revisiting history due to the inevitable parallels to george orwell’s teachings on authoritarianism, but also our more recent responses to historical traumas (genocide, a pandemic, wars, etc). it would be a mistake to read ‘prophet song’ as a cautionary tale, warning, or premonition of a looming end-of-world event. instead, eilish’s story is a reflection on human tolerance of and capacity for evil, and how rapid it seeps and tarnishes our human psyche. the following aphorism could not be more true and applicable to this novel - “history does not repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes”.