"Perfectly balanced between comedy and darker reflections . . . irresistibly diverting and vivid." —Sarah Moss, The Guardian, "What to Read This Summer"
Description
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by LitHub, The Millions, and Our Culture
From a “deeply talented” (The New York Times Book Review), award-winning writer comes an alternate history of Northern Ireland’s recent past where the last remaining residents of a haunted archipelago face imminent eviction from their home.
In 1958, a politician’s ludicrous proposal to create a seventh county for Northern Ireland by draining Lough Neagh—the largest lake in Ireland—was, quite understandably, never implemented. In Few and Far Between, Jan Carson imagines a timeline in which the scheme proceeded. When an archipelago emerges from the receding water, a utopian community establishes itself on the islands, hoping to escape the prejudices and dangers of Troubles-era Northern Ireland.
As children in the 1970s, Marion and Robert-John Connolly moved to “The Ark” with their mercurial father, a prominent anthropologist studying this unique community. When the novel opens in 2017, the siblings are among the final few inhabitants. Sheltered from modernity, they work as the Ark’s caretakers, monitoring the mysterious Far Side islands where ghostly figures linger and the land swallows secrets whole. A devastating algae outbreak is slowly destroying the landscape they love, but government plans to deal with the crisis by flooding the lough would force them back to the Mainland for the first time in fifty years. When a young anthropologist arrives for field research, the Connollys wonder if this ambitious academic might be the answer to all their problems. Can they keep the Ark from revealing too much of its past?
Written with dark humor and a distinctive Northern voice, Few and Far Between is a novel about family and memory, toxic masculinity and modern womanhood, and the legacy of trauma that offers an illuminating look into the history of a complex place.
Reviews
"Stunning alternative history . . . Carson portrays her eerie setting with deep intelligence and gritty realism. This is indelible." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Gloriously funny, fantastical, and humane . . . Carson’s characteristic dark humor, absurdity, and wonderfully original characters add rich layers of meaning and insight to a story of family and societal trauma." —Booklist
"Carson has a talent for crafting uniquely neurotic characters, and the gnarled dynamics between them generate a compelling critique of gender roles and ecological decline in Northern Ireland and beyond . . . An absorbing read for fans of family dramas, magical realism, and eco-fiction." —Kirkus Reviews
“Haunting and darkly funny. Jan Carson has the fearlessness and bounce of Anne Enright and Kate Atkinson, and a wide-ranging, endlessly surprising scope. Few and Far Between is moody and mysterious, a gothic like no other.” —Flynn Berry, New York Times bestselling author of Northern Spy
