In The Movie Of Her Life

short stories | April 2025

published by Doire Press | cover design: Triona Walsh

ISBN 978-915877024

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In The Movie Of Her Life, Claire Hennessy’s adult fiction debut, is a work of edgy, voice-driven short stories that go to dark places with gut-wrenching honesty few writers can master.

In 21st century Dublin, an aspiring comedian puts her career on hold in favour of her boyfriend’s, all the while pretending to ignore his disdain for her day job that holds them together; a lonely young teacher tries to distract herself from a crush on one of her secondary school students; and a single mother on a first date, in desperate need of one good night out, dodges questions about her struggling child.

In other realities, a group of girls persuade themselves a classmate’s death had nothing to do with them or their merciless pact; a young woman lives out what’s supposed to be the last hours of her life at an end-of-the-world party; and a wicked stepmother forges a connection with the witch hiding in the forest.

Haunted by the gap between what they imagined their lives would be and what they really are, these characters grapple with unspeakable longings and quiet devastation.

“As inquisitive and inspiring as one has come to expect from a Claire Hennessy book, and yet somehow even moreso, a voice of pure fury, passion and humour; we’re lucky to have a writer like this in our midst.” - Alice Kinsella, author of Milk (Picador)

“Pitch-dark, razor-sharp. Keenly observed and compelling, the reader has the sense of being confined to an artfully constructed prison cell they won’t want to leave.” - Deirdre Sullivan, author of I Want To Know That I Will Be Okay (Banshee Press)

“There is love, then there is let-down. There is blind acceptance of one’s lot, then there is a deep, hidden license to howl down the waiting room and expose the surgery of life for the big dirty lie that it is. At last: relatable modern spiky topics, written with laser-tool precision, exposing, common wounds. Slick-dark, narky in part, and side-splittingly funny.” - June Caldwell, author of Room Little Darker (New Island)