It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
The Town That Forgot How To Breathe

The Town That Forgot How To Breathe

Summary

Bareneed, Newfoundland, home to a vivid cast of characters who, one by one, come down with a mysterious breathing disorder. As the illness progresses, its victims fall into silence and are gripped by dark thoughts and urges. Meanwhile, the once-thriving cod fishery has been shut down and people find their nets full of bizarre creatures - the incarnations of legendary beasts and characters that existed in the village's tales for generations. One old-timer, Eileen Laracy, gradually makes the connection: the act of breathing is no longer automatic for the inhabitants of Bareneed - out of place and time, they have lost a fundamental part of their identity.

Reviews

  • A novel of dazzling ambition and strange, haunting loveliness. Grippingly entertaining and bursting with life, it is an absolute triumph of the storyteller's art. Many books are hyped as "unputdownable". This one really is.
    Joseph O'Connor

About the author

Kenneth J Harvey

Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more