The Sunday Times no. 3 bestselling novel from author of HAMNET and THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT
*Over 330,000 copies sold*
Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award
‘A complex, riveting novel of love and hope that grips at the heart’ The Sunday Times
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A reclusive former film star living in the wilds of Ireland, Claudette Wells thinks nothing of firing a gun if strangers get too close to her house. Why is she so fiercely protective of her family, and what made her walk out on her career at the height of her fame?
Her husband Daniel, reeling from a discovery about a woman he last saw twenty years ago, is about to make an exit of his own. It is a journey that will send him off-course, far from home. Will his love for Claudette be enough to bring him back?
This Must Be The Place crosses continents and time zones, creating a portrait of an extraordinary marriage, the forces that hold it together and the pressures that drive it apart.
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‘Moving and hilarious. I loved it’ Rachel Joyce
‘A tour de force. Dazzling’ Observer
‘A conjuror’s sleight of hand… deft and compelling’ Guardian
‘Magnificent… perceptive, profound and page-turning in equal measures’ Cathy Rentzenbrink
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⭐ What readers are saying; ⭐
‘One of the few books in my adult life I’ve read more than once… cannot recommend enough’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Perfect to lose yourself in’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘A wonderful novel which held me captivated and in awe’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Reviews
Inventive, moving and hilarious. I loved it
For all that it whizzed about across times zones and continents, it is seamless and each character is fantastic at the next
A new Maggie O'Farrell book is always a cause for celebration, but her seventh is so brilliant that you'll want to unfurl flags and put up bunting in her honour... Wonderfully written and absolutely addictive
I haven't read a Maggie O'Farrell novel I didn't love and This Must Be The Place might be her finest work yet... A beautiful, ambitious triumph
Some books are for lingering over. Every sentence Maggie O'Farrell writes is so perfectly formed that you want to wallow in it. As a writer, she's perceptive, warm and particularly good at the nuances of family relationships. In This Must Be The Place, she casts her sharp but humane eye on a marriage in trouble
Maggie O'Farrell's new novel is beautiful... [an] epic endeavour to build a portrait of a relationship in its whole, contrary and complex plurality... the reader is won over, and rapt
A tour de force, a complex and nuanced story leaping effortlessly across multiple time frames... THIS MUST BE THE PLACE is that rare literary beast, both technically dazzling and deeply moving. It has all the structural and temporal playfulness of a Kate Atkinson novel while retaining the hallmark emotional insight for which O'Farrell has become renowned. It is her best novel to date, a book that surely confirms her as one of the UK's most assured, accomplished and inventive storytellers
A symphony of stories and voices... absolutely gripping... A rare talent to enthral... It will leave you bereft and wanting more
Beautifully executed; a graceful, insightful exploration of a relationship in all its wonders and woes
There is tragedy in the novel, but also sharp comedy, and O'Farrell, skilful as ever, plays with the novel form... In this rewarding and humane novel, O'Farrell brings alive the destructive effects of petty betrayals that affect everyone every day
Switching seamlessly between decades, destinations and voices, it's complex in scale, but is carried off with dazzling grace. A rich, engrossing feast of a novel to lose yourself in
She has, throughout her career, shown a willingness to experiment with form that many commercially successful writers wouldn't dare to do, as well as a willingness to explore difficult subject matter... epic and intimate
A magnificent novel that is perceptive, profound and page-turning in equal measures. There are few things I look forward to like a Maggie O'Farrell novel and she never disappoints
The result is dazzling, her most accomplished book yet
Her best so far... epic but intimate too
Exquisite... exceptionally accomplished and emotionally sophisticated'... 'O'Farrell is tremendously sure-footed at wrong-footing the reader
A complex, riveting novel of love and hope that grips at the heart... It will leave you bereft and wanting more
One of the most enjoyable and satisfying books of the year
Deftly blurring the lines between holiday read and literary fiction, it's bound for the bestseller lists
No character is wasted, no word misspent... The reach is dazzlingly epic, the tone addictively accessible. In awe.
Fans will not be disappointed
O'Farrell's seventh novel is as captivating and as intricately written as her previous offerings
In the final pages, however, we are allowed to slow right down, to savour the culmination of everything that has come before, and to remember just how gifted a storyteller O'Farrell truly is
A conjuror's sleight of hand... a deft and compelling chronicler of human relationships
This Must Be The Place is her best yet ... At the heart of this smart, structurally interesting but never over-clever novel is the story of a relationship ... If she was a man she'd be Man Booker-shortlisted, as it is she'll have to settle for just being brilliant