{"id":5633,"date":"2026-02-19T06:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5633"},"modified":"2026-02-19T06:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:05:00","slug":"saoirse-by-charleen-hurtubise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5633","title":{"rendered":"Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saoirse<\/strong> by Charleen Hurtubise<\/a>
on February 24, 2026
Genres:<\/strong> Fiction \/ Coming of Age<\/a>, Fiction \/ Places \/ Europe<\/a>, Fiction \/ Thrillers \/ Suspense<\/a>, Fiction \/ Women<\/a>
Pages:<\/strong> 256
Format:<\/strong> ARC<\/a>
Buy on Amazon<\/a>
Goodreads<\/a> <\/p>\n

Saoirse<\/strong> completely surprised me\u2014in the best way.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be honest: based on the cover alone, I didn\u2019t think this book was going to be for me. But once I settled into the story, I found myself deeply invested. The novel begins slowly, but that pacing is intentional, allowing space to build Saoirse\u2019s world and gently layer in her past.<\/p>\n

In the present, she is living in Ireland under the name Saoirse (pronounced Sear-sha)\u2014a name that sounds like the sea and means freedom in the language of her adopted country.<\/em><\/strong> She resides on the rugged coast of Donegal with her husband, Daithi, and their two children. On the surface, she has built a quiet, loving life\u2014but there\u2019s an undercurrent of unease, the feeling that something fragile is holding it all together and that something bad is coming.<\/p>\n

The story then takes us back to Michigan, where she was once Sarah, a child shaped by fear, silence, and trauma beyond what you can imagine. We are taken on the journey of how she survived and ultimately escaped to Ireland. These glimpses of her past are haunting and deeply emotional, adding weight to every choice she makes in the present.<\/p>\n

Art plays a powerful role in this novel. Saoirse expresses her pain through her paintings\u2014work she doesn\u2019t truly want to be recognized for, despite her tremendous talent. When her art begins to gain attention, it threatens the life she has so carefully and quietly built. The tension is subtle but constant, driven by memory, identity, and the fear of being truly seen.<\/p>\n

This is a beautifully written, lyrical novel that lingers long after the final page. It\u2019s emotionally heavy, thoughtful, and deeply human\u2014one I\u2019ll be thinking about for quite some time. Saoirse<\/strong> would make an excellent book club selection, especially for readers who enjoy discussing the gritty and emotional aspects of life, survival, and reinvention.<\/p>\n

A huge thank you to Celadon Books<\/strong> for the advance copy for my Little Free Library\u2014my LFL patrons are going to devour this.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The post Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise<\/a> appeared first on Book Nook Buzz<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise on February 24, 2026 Genres: Fiction \/ Coming of Age, Fiction \/ Places \/ Europe, Fiction \/ Thrillers \/ Suspense, Fiction \/ Women Pages: 256 Format: ARC Buy on Amazon Goodreads Saoirse completely surprised me\u2014in the best way. I\u2019ll be honest: based on the cover alone, I didn\u2019t think this book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}