It begins on an orange afternoon, cool but ruminant, close to Halloween. Sunny, only four years old, looks up from the terrarium-sized tub of toys in the living room and asks, 'Mama, do you remember when I died?'

Over the course of the next strange, strained year, Sunny will refer repeatedly to her previous lives, and how they ended.

Her parents, Lena and Odhran - who rushed headfirst into family life after an accidental pregnancy and a hasty registry office wedding - are left desperate for answers.

Is their child suffering from disassociation, a psychological disorder, or something more? Has she been contaminated by their own haunted histories - by Lena's experiences as an indie musician in the era of sleaze, by a shady legacy of madness in Odhran's family? Can we ever really protect our children? What if we can't?

 

One of the country's best and brightest - Guardian, on Niamh CampbellI

Love this woman's writing. Golden sentences - Diana Evans, on Niamh Campbell

An immensely talented writer - Irish Examiner, on Niamh Campbell

One of the finest Irish stylists of her generation - Sean Hewitt, on Niamh Campbell