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Prophet Song

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Prophet Song

By: Paul Lynch
Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
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About this listen

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother of four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.

Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and when her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling.

How far will she go to save her family? And what – or who – is she willing to leave behind?

Exhilarating, terrifying and propulsive, Prophet Song is a work of breathtaking originality, offering a devastating vision of a country at war and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.

2023, Booker Prize, Winner

2023, An Post Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, Short-listed

2025, Dublin Literary Award, Long-listed

©2023 Paul Lynch (P)2023 Bolinda Publishing Disaster Fiction Dystopian Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Science Fiction Ireland Thought-Provoking Emotionally Gripping Heartfelt Scary Tear-jerking Marriage

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Critic reviews

'The comparisons are inevitable – Saramago, Orwell, McCarthy – but this novel will stand entirely on its own.' (Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon)

'Monumental ... You remember why fiction matters. It's hard to recall a more powerful novel in recent years.' (Samantha Harvey, author of The Western Wind)
'Prophet Song is a literary manifesto for empathy for those in need and a brilliant, haunting novel that should be placed into the hands of policymakers everywhere.' (The Guardian)
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it's a dystopian and relentlessly pessimistic book based mainly around tension and waiting. Not a lot happens, Plot and character are thin. There's a huge amount of repetition -anguished voices repeatedly expressing surprise, overwriting (the metaphor of the father's dementia is whipped to death) and at the end of most paragraphs there's a weird anatomy lesson as the writer searches for ever more grotesque ways of describing anxiety on the body. But the ending is well accomplished and the sense that this could happen anywhere is realised. The reader has a good voice, limited range of emotional expression, and a very odd tic of reading "she" as "he". Given almost every sentence in the book starts with s/he, this is disconcerting!

Great ending

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Very well written and read. Couldn't put it down. Could happened in many a country where all moral and ethical rights aew swept under the carpet.

A realistic scenario presented in all its naked realism

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I found this book to be slow. After reading Atwood's Oryx and Crake this dystopian book seemed dull and repetitive ... more over - why on earth is it narrated by a man when the story is told from the perspective of a woman?! That was very off-putting...

why a male narrator for a female protagonist?

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Beautifully written and narrated: heart-wrenching descriptions of brutallity by the State which, as the Prophets foretell of such decimation, can happen at any time, in any country...

Excellent read.

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Brilliant. Rough going the whole way through but a story beautifully told and performed. Heart breaking but important. Oof

Oooffff

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Very good book, and leaves you feeling this won’t happen but it could absolutely happen.
My only problem with this audible production was that the book was in the eyes of a woman and should really have been narrated by a woman.

It never happens until it does

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What a magnificently written book. Incredible and so very believable at the same time. I could not put it down and while harrowing at times I wanted to get to the end. Gerry O'Brien's narration should also be award winning. Brought it all to life, Believe the hype. Loved it.

Amazing

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There but for the grace of god go I. Well written and read. Really made me think; never let the far right take hold.

Puts things in perspective

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the book forces you to imagine what would happen is your home, your normal life, gradually changed, leaving you powerless to fight or escape as you slide into an authoritarian regime and then civil war. it holds no punches and it relentless with it's deep hopelessness.

it's well written as you feel deeply worried, sad and affected during and after reading it.

I didn't enjoy it. I wouldn't recommend it because of the sadness it's left with me but I think some readers look for this. I don't want to spoil.it but it should come with a trigger warning ⚠️.

I suppose for someone who can't understand the plight of those fleeing countries at civil war or on their way to it... this could spark some understanding and maybe empathy. for those who feel that deeply already this is a depressing read in a depressing time.

deeply saddening and anxiety inducing

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An ordinary family becomes victim of their political views not conforming with those of the people in power. It's appropriate that the story doesn't delve into the political leanings of the various factions as its a parable of how a stable society can rapidly degenerate into a nightmare regardless of the politics. It is unfortunate that Larry is a union activist, which gives oxygen to those of a left leaning persuasion that this book is about a right wing fascist state. There's been as much death and suffering in left wing totalitarian states as right wing ones. One would hope that people would read this book and realise, that ultimately political views have to eventually reach a state of compromise and to avoid all the death, destruction and misery that occur between intransigence and that compromise. We live in a very polar world fed by the echo chamber of social media and the Internet. Opposing viewpoints to one's own should be tolerated and welcomed to moderate tendancy to radicalise and improve society far all as opposed to those within your own faction. The despair one feels in following eilish's progression is released at the end when the arrival at the sea, gives hope, that the funnel inverts and releases them into a state of freedom and opportunity.

Relentlessy constricting downward spiral into a funnel of despair.

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