The Red Mouth

Sheila Armstrong (Author)

The Red Mouth

Sheila Armstrong (Author)

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Description

'An absolute tour de force ... One of the most powerful writers at work today' COLIN WALSH
'When the book burners knock on your door, this is one to hide in the flour barrel' ANNIE PROULX
'Like reading Claire Keegan or Donal Ryan for the first time. A writer already touched by greatness' JOSEPH O'CONNOR

From a rising star in literary fiction comes a story of two discoveries made deep in an Irish bogland, threading together four lives across time.

When a dog finds a strange, alien antler in a restored bog, the owner's first thought is to keep it for himself. But when he realises the value of his find, he is drawn back to the rich peat to keep searching. It is not one stag skeleton that is buried there, but dozens – an ancient dying ground of the Great Irish Elk.

Other things have surfaced from the bog: prehistoric settlements, bronze cauldrons, ancient butter, iron weapons – and the mutilated body of a two-thousand-year-old female. Fifty years ago, a young archaeologist named her Belroe Woman, and dedicated his life to telling the story of her sacrificial death.

While state and public treat the bog body as a national treasure, others must reckon with its otherworldly influence over their lives: the peat-cutter who first unearthed her and carries this discovery like a curse; the archaeologist's daughter who grows up in the shadow of the bog's strange magnetism; and the young environmental scientist whose work draws her back to where it all began.

Haunting and lyrical, The Red Mouth - an béal rua - is the story of two discoveries and the four strangers who become intertwined in their wake. The deep time of the bog is both mystical and sinister: those bound to it must decide what to bury - and what to unearth.

PRAISE FOR SHEILA ARMSTRONG:
'Unsettling, unpredictable, and brilliant' Roddy Doyle
'Vivid, sensuous ... A subtle tale of loss, loneliness and disconnection' Paul Lynch
'Beautifully written ... An unchained sea melody' Anne Enright

Product details

Published	03 Nov 2026
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Pages	240
ISBN	9781526691125
Imprint	Bloomsbury Circus
Dimensions	216 x 135 mm
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Sheila Armstrong

Sheila Armstrong is a writer and editor from the n…

Each Sheila Armstrong book is better than the last and The Red Mouth is a particularly accomplished piece of writing. Polyphonic, ingenuous and so deftly written every scene is painterly. Her writing keeps careful time with the landscape, language and rich traditions of Ireland, making this a novel with one eye trained on the past and the other soldered to the here and now

JAN CARSON, author of The Raptures
A phenomenal novel - expansive, funny and so, so beautiful. To read Sheila Armstrong is a unique experience. The Red Mouth has a hallucinatory quality, and its characters still haunt me. One of the best reading experiences I've had in years

LOUISE NEALON, author of Snowflake
Armstrong writes with such sensitivity to the repercussions of history, and such keen attention to the particularities and peculiarities of human and animal behaviour. A truly remarkable, exquisitely composed novel

SARA BAUME, author of Seven Steeples
Sheila Armstrong unearths a story of deep relevance in these difficult times, tying our fates to the land and our relationship to our past, present and future. Told in beautiful, rich prose with deep affection for the bog, its traditions and secrets, giving us a mirror to examine ourselves with, and a place to hide all our shame and sins. The bog seeps into your psyche, it becomes alive, dense with seasons, secrets, and eventually solace. Armstrong reveals so much about our true natures with stunning sentences and dark humour. A masterpiece

OLIVIA FITZSIMONS, author of The Quiet Whispers Never Stop
An absolute tour de force of language, The Red Mouth pulses with beauty, insight and mounting dread. Sheila Armstrong is one of the most powerful writers at work today - she delves unflinchingly into the treasures and terrors that dwell beneath all our ordinary and extraordinary lives. This novel is a remarkable artistic achievement

COLIN WALSH, author of Kala
The Red Mouth is a work of great emotional depth and psychological insight - to read Armstrong's writing is to be enriched

ALAN MURRIN, author of The Coast Road