In these glittering little memoirs, Beth Ann Fennelly removes one protective garment after another until she exposes the poetry beneath life's troubles and pleasures. . . . If The Irish Goodbye is a naked self-portrait, then let us all be naked.--Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of The Waters

Beth Ann Fennelly's writing flickers and shimmers like minnows just below the water's surface--quick, sharp, and radiantly alive. Each of these pieces is a marvel of compression and care, where humor sidles up next to heartbreak, and ordinary moments are cast in an enticing, golden light. . . . This book is such a great catch, such a bounty!--Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of Bite by Bite

Every word in these essays--whether open-armed and loving, brokenhearted and howling, or winking with wit--is perfectly chosen and perfectly placed. . . . This book faces what it means to say goodbye, but it is also absolutely alight with life.--Margaret Renkl, author of The Comfort of Crows

[Fennelly] transforms the mundane into the metaphysical under the heat of her gaze. With a poet's knack for concision and a novelist's deep well of empathy, Fennelly makes everyday moments worthy of close reading-- "Publishers Weekly"

The Irish Goodbye is a marvelous, masterful book of micro-memoirs that add up to a life full of humor, friendship, motherhood, joy, grief, and love. . . . Beth Ann Fennelly dazzles us with her observations and brevity, her beautiful prose, her enormous heart.--Ann Hood, author of The Stolen Child

This book knocked me sideways. I tore through it in a day and I'm still trying to catch my breath. . . . I've long been a fan of Beth Ann Fennelly's work, but The Irish Goodbye is her best book yet.--Jamie Quatro, author of Two-Step Devil

What a terrific writer! In language as much poetry as prose, and spectacular poetry at that, Beth Ann Fennelly captures the usually overlooked moments of our lives.--Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Pub date: 2026-02-24

Length: 144 pages