Where the Heart Should Be

The outstanding novel from the Carnegie Medal-winning, former Laureate na nÓg Sarah Crossan; thought-provoking and incredibly moving, it explores love and family during The Great Hunger.

Ireland, 1846. Nell is working as a scullery maid in the kitchen of the Big House. Once she loved school and books and dreaming. But there's not much choice of work when the land grows food that rots in the earth. Now she is scrubbing, peeling, washing, sweeping for Sir Philip Wicken, the man who owns her home, her family's land, their crops, everything. His dogs are always well fed, even as famine sets in.

Upstairs in the Big House, where Nell is forbidden to enter, is Johnny Browning, newly arrived from England: the young nephew who will one day inherit it all. And as hunger and disease run rampant all around them, a spark of life and hope catches light when Nell and Johnny find each other.

This is a love story, and the story of a people being torn apart. This is a powerful and unforgettable novel from the phenomenally talented Sarah Crossan.

Review

One of our finest novelists. Where the Heart Should Be is a thing of beauty. ― Phil Earle

Sarah Crossan's writing is powerful and necessary ― Matt Goodfellow

A tour de force from Sarah Crossan ― Patricia Forde, Laureate na nÓg

Where the Heart Should Be thrums with longing, beauty, loss and strength. ― Katya Balen

A beautifully written, tightly observed novel... completely absorbing. -- Lucy Bannerman ― The Times

With tenderness and unexpected humour, this story is irresistibly emotive as events unfold with almost unbearable tension, mitigated only by the promise at the beginning that true love wins -- Nicolette Jones ― Sunday Times

Outstanding... Crossan's economy of words is no barrier to intense emotional impact in this powerhouse of a novel ― Observer

A beautiful, perfect, moving read -- Cecelia Ahern

PRAISE FOR TOFFEE: "Utterly Sublime", - Cecelia Ahern, "Impossible not to read it in a single gulp" - The Times, "Undoubtedly one of the best books of the year" - Irish Times, "Compelling and beautifully wrought" - The Sunday Times, "A book that changes its reader for the better" - The Guardian, "One of our most original writers" - John Boyne

PRAISE FOR ONE: "The best book I've read in years. It's a spectacular testament to love. It blows your head back" - Katherine Rundell

Mesmerising, beautiful and full of rage -- Holly Bourne

About the Author

Sarah Crossan grew up in Dublin and London. Her books for children and teenagers have won many prizes including the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal, the CBI Book of the Year, the YA Book Prize, and the CLiPPA Poetry Award.

Her first novel for adults, Here Is The Beehive, was published in 2020 to critical acclaim, and was shortlisted for Popular Fiction Book of the Year in the AN Post Irish Book Awards

Sarah's novels have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She currently lives and works in East Sussex.