Hagstone
Sinéad Gleeson, known for her essay collection Constellations, makes her debut as a novelist with a story rooted in landscape and folklore. Nell is an artist who has made a home on a wild, isolated island off the Irish coast, drawing her work from the place itself, its myths, and the lives of the women around her. When a letter arrives from the Inions, a closed community of women who came to the island seeking refuge, Nell is invited to create a major art piece marking their history. As she works, she learns things about the commune and about her own life that unsettle everything she thought she understood. Florence Welch chose it for her Between Two Books club in November 2024.
What you might want to know about Hagstone
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A reclusive artist on a remote Irish island takes a commission from a secretive commune of women and uncovers truths about them and herself.
Yes. Sinéad Gleeson was already known for her essay collection Constellations and her work as an editor and broadcaster, and Hagstone, published in 2024, is her first novel.
Hagstone was written by Sinéad Gleeson, published in 2024 by 4th Estate.
Hagstone is 320 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Hagstone takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Hagstone is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.