LITERATURE
This Must Be the Place
MAGGIE O’FARRELL
With Hamnet scooping awards in cinemas and Land , her newest novel, due to arrive on shelves this summer, this is definitely Maggie O’Farrell’s year. So, what better time to acquaint yourself with her brilliant back catalogue, including this beautiful tale of life-long love in all its complex and frustrating glory. Wife and husband Claudette and Daniel are at an impasse: their carefully constructed peace, deliberately isolated deep in the Irish countryside, is shattered by a revelation from academic Daniel’s past. For Claudette – once the most famous movie star alive before vanishing from set and seemingly disappearing from the outside world – everything is upended. In light of the news, Daniel is moved to reconnect with his estranged family in New York and California – but it’s not like Claudette to wait around, especially not for a man. Perhaps this isn’t the place after all. Like all of O’Farrell’s work, This Must Be the Place is profoundly moving and deeply rooted in the gorgeously depicted rural setting: you’ll feel right there with Claudette and Daniel as they open and close the 12 gates that lead to their cottage’s front door. This novel takes breathtaking leaps through timelines, narrators and versions of events from the past to the present until the truths emerge and these deeply flawed characters find their way back to each other – and to the love woven throughout their stories.
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CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK FEBRUARY 2026 33
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