When Oisin’s mother Brigid’s health begins to decline, he is drawn from Brazil back to Ireland with his wife and young daughter. As they work at building a new life, and he seeks to reconnect with his mother who has early onset Alzheimer’s, the faces and places around him begin to stir up echoes from the past. Moving back and forth in time, between now and Brigid’s teens, the two timelines slowly reveal the moments, some significant, some small, that have shaped mother and son as they are now: the love they have known, the losses they have endured, and the traumas they have buried.

I loved this book. It’s a short book at just over 200 pages but with writing that is at times raw, at times lyrical, every page is a joy to read. I loved how Holloway explores the different relationships within his novel. Oisín and Nina’s journey as they navigate the challenges faced by a young family building a new life, Nina striving to adapt in a new country, Oisín making some questionable decisions in his bid to readapt in his place of childhood now changed. Brigid’s story of young love, tested but not broken, with the love of her life James shows both her vulnerability and her resilience, while also giving insight into James as a fully rounded character with an inner struggle of his own. Brigid’s relationship with her own parents is particularly beautifully handled, with some touchingly tender moments of love and protectiveness towards their daughter. And of course Oisín’s shifting relationship with his mother as her Alzheimer’s progresses, his striving to find ways to reach her.  

Language is at the heart of this novel. Language as self-discovery, language as identity, language as self-preservation, language as communication. Finding the language to understand our innermost thoughts; finding the language to vocalise them to others. Meditating on the feelings and experiences which cannot be translated into words. As Brigid’s condition deteriorates, she speaks less and when she does it’s mostly in Irish, leading Oisín to seek out a language he has up until now not had as a means of connecting with her. Memory is also key here; just as Brigid is losing some of her memory, Oisín is slowly uncovering past memories that have been haunting him. And that ending. Just perfect. 

A powerful and moving debut novel, and I can’t wait to see what Holloway writes next. 

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The Language of Remembering is published by époque press.

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Patrick Holloway is an Irish writer of fiction and poetry and is an editor of the literary journal, The Four Faced Liar. He completed his Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow, before moving to Porto Alegre, Brazil, where he completed his PhD in Creative Writing.

He is the winner of the Bath Short Story Award, The Molly Keane Creative Writing Prize, The Flash 500 Prize, the Allingham Fiction contest and he was the recipient of the Paul McVeigh Residency in 2023. His work appears in The Stinging Fly, The London Magazine, Poetry Ireland, The Moth, Southword, The Ilanot Review, Carve, The Irish Times and The Irish Independent.

The Language of Remembering is Patrick’s debut novel.