One of Ireland’s most beloved novelists—with more than 1.5 million copies of her books in print—now published in Canada for the first time

July, 1976. One morning Robert Riordan tells his wife, Gretta, that he is going around the corner to buy a newspaper.

He doesn’t return.

Drawn back home to London to help solve the mystery, Gretta’s grown-up children fit awkwardly into their childhood roles, and tensions run high. Each is at a turning point in his or her life. The eldest, Michael Francis, is increasingly estranged from his wife by parenthood and his guilt over a brief affair. Monica’s performance as a perfect stepmother is convincing no one; and Aoife, the black sheep of the family, is finding that even in New York she can’t hide from the secret that has set her apart since childhood.

A journey back to Connemara, Ireland, brings surprises, insights and revelations, as each of them confronts the knotty tangle of family life and love. Elegant and compelling, Instructions for a Heatwave secures Maggie O’Farrell’s position as one of the best of the new generation of Irish writers.