Short and sharp, The Visitor by Maeve Brennan is a deceptively simple novella, yet the painfully precise depictions of loneliness and close examination of generational trauma will melt even the coldest of hearts!

Following the death of her mother, we meet twenty-two-year-old Anastasia King as she returns from Paris to her paternal grandmother’s house in Dublin. Ostensibly a home-coming tale, this narrative is flipped on its head when Anastasia is met with bitterness and spite from her grandmother, who is determined never to forgive Anastasia for fleeing after her mother to Paris. As she rattles around the shadowy house, it becomes clear that, while Anastasia thinks she’s come home to stay, for the vengeful Mrs King she is an unwelcome visitor…

Maeve Brennan emigrated to New York from Ireland in the 1930s, where she contributed reviews, articles and short stories for The New Yorker. Although she wrote The Visitor in her twenties, it wasn’t published until after her death, when it was discovered in a university archive. Peninsula Press’ beautiful new edition goes a long way in helping reclaim Maeve as one of the twentieth century’s finest writers, and one of its most unflinching documentarians of the human heart. The introduction by eminent novelist and short story writer Lynne Tillman illuminates how despite it being “The saddest story” where little happens, the characters linger with you long after putting the book down.

I think this comes down to the subtle complexity of Maeve’s writing. She draws out the human vulnerabilities of the family, capturing both the austere, grieving grandmother and youthful Anastasia’s self-absorbed longing for a home in an achingly accurate way. Her descriptions of the flickering fire and icy garden also help in creating a delightfully atmospheric, haunting novella, where she exposes universal experiences of family, grief and loneliness in a very confronting way.

This compelling story is one I cannot recommend enough to curl up and spend a wintery afternoon reading – but do make yourself a hot drink and wrap up warm first, as this is a chilling read!

“She is constantly alert, sharp-eyed as a sparrow for the crumbs of human event, the overheard and the glimpsed and the guessed-at.” — John Updike

“Brennan remains precise, unyielding: something lovely and unbearable is happening on the page.” — Anne Enright

Also available from Peninsula Press:

The Long-Winded Lady | 9781913512446 | Paperback | £12.99 | 25th January 2024

The Springs of Affection | 9781913512255 | Paperback | £10.99 | 16th February 2023