From the iconic author of The Country Girls trilogy, a modern Irish coming-of-age classic. 'My favourite in the whole wonderful O'Brien canon. Told in the second-person voice - a bold syntactic choice - of a young girl, it is at once a coming-of-age story and an account of a vanished way of life in rural Ireland. The Church doesn't escape O'Brien's gimlet gaze.' Maggie O'Farrell After leaving for a religious community in Belgium, the young woman in A Pagan Place becomes lost in memories of her childhood in rural Ireland, reflecting on the rituals of village life, the people she encountered, the enchanting beauty of the landscape, the concept of home - and the shocking event that led to her departure ... This ebook features the first chapter of Edna O'Brien's stunning novel, Girl.