Habitat

A striking debut novel from one of Ireland’s most promising emerging talents

‘Marries the cosmic nightmare of Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! with the sociological portraits of Ken Loach. . . . I’ve never read anything quite like it’ —Colin Walsh, author, Kala

Habitat follows seven people over the course of a week as their mid-century apartment building in Oslo inexplicably disappears. The web of neighbors is connected by family relations, long acquaintance, life-long feuds, and glimpses of each other across the communal garden. As they are each affected in different ways, they fail to grasp that this is a shared crisis. The neighbors, in turn, blame and reach out to each other, never seeing the full picture. Their age, profession, origin, and family status all affect how they respond to the crisis in their own apartment, and to what extent help and understanding is available to them. The building components give their own take on being used for the purposes of these people, their voices containing the longer perspective of materials that existed before the building, and which will survive in some form beyond its destruction.

This debut examines the evasive responses of these neighbors, their troubles and short-comings, and the lies they tell each other and themselves. Comparable to Kafka’s Metamorphosis or Eugène Ionesqo’s Rhinoceros in how people respond to an uncanny event, Shine has here written a parable perfectly fit for our uncertain times.

Catriona Shine grew up in Ireland and now works as an architect in Oslo. Her writing has appeared in The Dublin Review, Channel, Southword and elsewhere. She was awarded the Penfro First Chapter Prize in 2016 and IAFOR Vladimir Davidé Haiku Award in 2017 and was shortlisted for the Sean O’Faolain Short Story Prize 2022. She has also been shortlisted for the O. Henry Prize and the McKitterick Prize among others.

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