Beauty Of Impossible Things, The

The summer Natasha Rothwell turns fifteen, strange dancing lights appear in the sky above her small town, lights that she interprets as portents of doom.

Natasha leads a sheltered life with her beautiful, bohemian mother in a crumbling house by the sea. As news of the lights spreads, more and more visitors arrive in the town, creating a feverish atmosphere of anticipation and dread. And the arrival of a new lodger, the handsome Mr Bowen, threatens to upset the delicate equilibrium between mother and daughter.

Then Natasha's fears seem to be realized when a local teenager goes missing, and she is called on to help. But her actions over that long, hot summer will have unforeseen and ultimately tragic consequences that will cast a shadow for many years to come...

Review: A brooding, gothic-tinged coming-of-age tale... Deftly evokes a simmering summer... There is a gentle lyricism to Donohue's prose that brushes everything with a dreamy heat haze - but the emotions roiling beneath are sharp and cutting * The Times *
Poetic, atmospheric * Daily Mail *
An elegant, coming-of-age novel that has touches of Francoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse as well as LP Hartley's The Go-Between ... the atmosphere and characters Donohue creates linger long after finishing. * Sunday Independent *
Haunting and compelling * Emma Rous *
Brims with atmospheric, eerie tension * Irish Independent *
Donohue looks to be the latest name to join the ranks of Ireland's proud female thriller-writing tradition. * Irish Independent on Rachel Donhue *
A dark magic tale which summons the eerie, ominous mood of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, or Picnic at Hanging Rock... Donohue writes with an apparently effortless grace * Big Issue *
Donohue's language is sharp, mature and occasionally quite beautiful. There is a poetic lilt to the prose... * Sunday Business Post *
Donohue is a master of clean, sharp prose * Irish Times on Rachel Donohue *
Eloquent, lyrical prose ... fascinating and thought-provoking * NB Magazine *
Donohue's writing is crisp and frequently elegant ... the novel's moving ending feels earned and real. * Irish Times *

Author Biography: Rachel Donohue graduated from University College, Dublin, in Philosophy and Politics before embarking on a career in communications and media relations. She lives in Dublin. Her debut novel, The Temple House Vanishing was an Irish Times bestseller.