Oneworld Publications UK Prophet Song: WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch is a Sunday Times bestseller published by Oneworld Publications UK. Set in Dublin, the novel introduces scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack, whose evening is interrupted when officers from the GNSB, Ireland’s newly established secret police, arrive at her door to question her husband, a trade unionist, as the country begins to splinter.

As the government shifts towards tyranny and her husband vanishes, Eilish is pulled into the harsh, unsettling logic of a society coming undone. The narrative focuses on the decisions she faces in trying to keep her family safe, and what she may be forced to leave behind. It is described as a work of breathtaking originality, combining a devastating vision of a nation at war with a closely observed portrait of a mother fighting to hold her family together.

Key details

• Author: Paul Lynch
• Published by Oneworld Publications UK
• Sunday Times bestseller
• Winner of the Booker Prize 2023

Synopsis

In Dublin, Eilish Stack is confronted at home by the GNSB, a newly formed secret police force that has come to interrogate her husband. As Ireland moves towards totalitarianism, the strain on her family escalates.

When her husband disappears, Eilish must navigate a society rapidly unravelling, weighing how far she will go to protect her children and what she may be compelled to sacrifice. The novel sets a stark national conflict alongside an intimate account of a mother’s struggle to keep her family together.