Hagstone cover art

Hagstone

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Hagstone

By: Sinéad Gleeson
Narrated by: Tara Flynn
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

THE INSTANT TOP 5 IRISH BESTSELLER

‘Wild, singular…gripped me from the start’ DOUGLAS STUART

'Passionate, wild, hugely atmospheric' DAVID NICHOLLS

‘Intelligent, probing’ MAGGIE O'FARRELL

‘A gorgeous, mysterious read’ AISLING BEA

‘I adored it’ LOUISE KENNEDY

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

*A most anticipated 2024 debut in BBC, Daily Mail, Stylist, New Statesman, Sunday Independent, Irish Times and Irish Examiner*

The haunting debut novel from acclaimed, Irish no. 1 bestselling author, Sinéad Gleeson.

The sea is steady for now. The land readies itself. What can be done with the women on the cliff?

On a wild and rugged island cut off and isolated to some, artist Nell feels the island is her home. It is the source of inspiration for her art, rooted in landscape, folklore and the feminine. The mysterious Iníons, a commune of women who have travelled there from all over the world, consider it a place of refuge and safety, of solace in nature.

All the islanders live alongside the strange murmurings that seem to emanate from within the depths of the island, a sound that is almost supernatural – a Summoning as the Iníons call it. One day, a letter arrives at Nell’s door from the reclusive Iníons who invite Nell into the commune for a commission to produce a magnificent art piece to celebrate their long history. In its creation, Nell will discover things about the community and about herself that will challenge everything she thought she knew.

Beautifully written and gripping, Sinéad Gleeson’s debut novel takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world. Perfect for readers of Margaret Atwood and Sarah Moss.

'Sublime' OBSERVER

‘Original and captivating’ BBC

'A gripping punch to the gut' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

‘Startling, engrossing, darkly playful’ RODDY DOYLE

‘Magnificent…a literary page-turner’ JENNIFER HIGGIE

'Constellations: Reflections from Life' by Sinéad Gleeson won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards.

©2024 Sinéad Gleeson (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers
Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magical Realism Psychological Paranormal

Listeners also enjoyed...

Woman on the Edge of Time cover art
The House of the Witch cover art
The Lost Past of Billy McQueen cover art
Eighteen cover art
The Magpies cover art
The Storyteller of Casablanca cover art
It Takes Blood and Guts cover art
All the Little Raindrops cover art
I Will Find You cover art
Warm Up cover art
The Instant cover art
When God Was a Rabbit cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
A stunning piece of writing, descriptive and enticing. Characters of interest and surprise.. not the ending I was expecting but leaves one wondering and hoping for more.

Deep and beautiful, strange yet relatable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Really enjoyed this. The beautiful Irish accent takes me to the place, the descriptions of the island take you there. I particularly enjoyed the uncertainty of the artist’s life, the dependency on funding, the having to create things that might not be your desired ideas, just to keep your practice solvent, and that constant of unresolved ideas. A great listen

An artist’s story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I found myself sitting in my car once I reached my destination wanting to listen to more, sinead gleeson is a beautiful writer, and from my brief encounters with the author is a lovely person to interact with

Magic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I just didn’t think it had a storyline that lived up to the blurb, not much happened and the finally was a bit damp . Great descriptive writing just didn’t find much of an arc with the characters

Writing style

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I enjoyed being swept away to the island. The writing made me feel the wind singing. A compelling view of rooting deeply into the earth as an artist/woman rubbing up against the mundane struggle to make a living and the compromises you meet along the way.

Evocative intriguing novel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I bought this book for my son for his birthday, so I decided I should listen to the audiobook so we could talk about it after he read it. If I hadn’t done that, I would’ve stopped after the first couple of chapters. The story is quite boring. The main character is not particularly likeable and I didn’t really care what happened to her or to any of the other characters. It’s not particularly badly written but it’s not great literature. I think the worst thing for me was that there was no sense of humour in it at all, it took itself really seriously, but without going hard enough in for example, a horror, Gothic or sci-fi direction to justify that. I won’t be looking for any more of her books.

Overall boring-didn’t care what happened to main character

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Living an idilic lifestyle in seclusion as an artist is something most artists would love to do, here Nell takes you on a journey through that process, the insecurity, the joy, self reflection, a beautifully written story.

artist perspective

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I enjoyed this. It is very evocative of place. Some interesting insights but I want someone to write a novel that shows how women living communally can succeed not another semi dystopian fiction dominated by Patriarchal colonial thinking. Old Europe which is at our cultural and artistic roots is such a place. It is possible. The cultish outcome was a trope I no longer enjoy. No back story or reasons for Mamon’s behaviour were given. The story itself seemed outdated. I think there was huge potential in the premise but the relationships were largely undeveloped and the tone lacked real warmth.

Enjoyable but very limited in its evocation of what is possible for women

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Atmospheric, beautifully crafted, and soul searching. Really got to grips with the way that visual art is created and how it takes over its creator. I loved this book and will listen again. The relationships are also very interesting.

Magical

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I loved this and could not stop listening. Even stayed on the beach way too late into the evening as I couldn't get enough. It was read perfectly and you could imagine yourself on the island with the women and Nell.

Spectacular

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews