Saoirse
Ireland

Saoirse

by Charleen Hurtubise

Summary

In 1999, Saoirse Byrne appears to have found the life she always dreamed of. Living on Ireland’s rugged Donegal coast, she shares a peaceful home with her partner, Daithí, and their two daughters. A talented artist, she pours her love for her family and her appreciation of the surrounding landscape into her paintings. But beneath this seemingly idyllic existence lies a secret: Saoirse has been living under a stolen identity since fleeing the United States as a teenager. She has crossed an ocean to escape a traumatic childhood and the dangerous people connected to her past, determined never to return to the life she left behind.

When an exhibition in Dublin brings her unexpected acclaim, the attention threatens to expose the carefully constructed identity that has allowed her to survive. As memories of her troubled upbringing and the choices she made to escape resurface, Saoirse must confront the possibility that the past she has tried to bury could destroy the family and freedom she has worked so hard to build.

Moving between Ireland and the United States, this suspenseful literary novel explores trauma, reinvention, the complexities of love, and the fragile boundary between survival and deception. It asks whether it is possible to escape one’s past—or whether true freedom requires facing it at last.

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Charleen Hurtubise
Charleen Hurtubise

Charleen Hurtubise is an Irish-American novelist, essayist, and visual artist whose writing explores trauma, identity, reinvention, and the complicated ways people seek safety and belonging. Born in Florida to a French-Canadian father and an Irish mother, she spent much of her childhood in Michigan and her early adult years in Boston before moving to Ireland, where she has lived for more than half her life. Hurtubise holds a graduate degree from Trinity College Dublin and an MFA in creative writing from University College Dublin, where she has also facilitated creative writing seminars. Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in various publications, and her creative practice encompasses both writing and visual art. Her debut novel, The Polite Act of Drowning, was published in Ireland and the United Kingdom in 2023. Her second novel, Saoirse (2026), is her US debut. Set between Michigan and Ireland, it follows an artist whose carefully constructed new life is threatened when public recognition risks exposing the identity and painful history she has concealed. Hurtubise lives in Dublin with her Irish family, while the landscapes of Donegal continue to inspire her writing and artwork.

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Published
2026
Author
Charleen Hurtubise