Stay

The past can't stay buried for long in this much-anticipated debut novel by Aislinn Hunter. Stay follows Abbey, a young Canadian woman living in a village outside Galway. She falls in love with Dermot, an older Irishman, in an unconventional, affectionate, but troubled relationship. Meanwhile, an important archeological dig is happening nearby that gradually draws everyone in the village into the exhumation of a mysterious "bog person." This unearthing of history provides a powerful counterpoint to Abbey’s own exhumation of her relationship, of her and Dermot’s old family demons and difficult pasts. In Hunter’s deft prose, the villagers form a riotous and poignant chorus to Abbey’s struggle, commenting on their rapidly changing world with wit and insight. This beautiful, funny, richly rewarding novel plumbs history and obligation, and above all, the fragile but enduring human connections in a world poised uneasily between past and future.