Life Cycle of a Moth by Rowe Irvin

Life Cycle of a Moth by Rowe Irvin

LONGLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2026
AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT OF 2025

'Astonishing' LUCY ROSE
'Biting and rich' MOLLY AITKEN
'Unforgettable' OBSERVER
'A novel of rare power' GABRIELLE GRIFFITHS

Myma, do you hear it? Myma, do you hear? Myma?

Maya and Daughter live in complete isolation in a secluded woodland, their days aligned with the light and changing seasons, a complex pattern of routine and ritual.

One day, when Daughter is almost sixteen, a red-haired stranger steps into the confines of their territory. Where there was always two, suddenly there are three - and the carefully constructed world that Maya has built to keep her daughter safe may not survive it.

Unforgettable. . Wonderfully linguistically playful . . . A book that expertly balances light and dark, childish play and the most adult of terrors . . . [Irvin's] uninhibited, guttural voice carries this magical realist folk fairy-tale, with a little of Max Porter in Irvin's playful, primal prose . . . A masterful, murky and fierce debut * * Observer * *
Tender [and] captivating . . . In impish yet tender style, Irvin thoughtfully explores what it means for a mother to care for a daughter in a world where male violence is everywhere. Life Cycle of a Moth is the very best kind of fiction: with the book open, you feel utterly transported; once you close it, you see how cunningly it holds a mirror up to reality. I can't wait to read whatever Irvin writes next -- ELLEN PEIRSON-HAGGER * * Guardian * *
A beautiful debut. It's rare that a novel feels so much like a little world to escape into, albeit at times a very bleak one, but everything here was so thoroughly and tenderly well-realised, the sense of ceremony and indoctrination, the details of nature. An allegory about the fragile times we live in and the terrible challenges of protecting our way of life and the creatures we love -- SARA BAUME
With unsparing, imaginative intensity, Rowe Irvin has hewn out of the bedrock of a harsh, non-Latinate lexicon a ferocious drama of damage and isolation, of a mother's ruthless passion and domination of her daughter. Life Cycle of a Moth occupies mythic territory (think Ted Hughes, Jim Crace, Alan Garner) and fills it with rough, poignant tenderness -- MARINA WARNER
Muscular, moving and muddy, Life Cycle of a Moth is an unflinching woodland fable you cannot miss. It's astonishing and stirring; a debut novel tenderly cadenced and alchemical, and I'm still reeling from turning its final pages. Rowe Irvin is a born storyteller -- LUCY ROSE, author of THE LAMB
This exhilarating and thoughtful novel takes us deep into a forest, deeper still into the scrambled knots of love that bind a mother and daughter fiercely to themselves and away from the rest of the perilous world. Wonderful -- LULU ALLISON
A novel of creative fecundity, where the earth is as real as Daughter and Myma. Irvin's prose is at once razor-sharp and profound. I will remember Life Cycle of a Moth for a long time to come -- AMY TWIGG
As gentle and tender as it is dark and unsettling, Life Cycle of a Moth depicts a complex mother daughter relationship in a strange yet familiar setting. The prose is biting and rich, echoing the rankness and brittle beauty of the natural world. The mysteries at the novel's heart kept me riveted -- MOLLY AITKEN
Life Cycle of a Moth is a novel of rare power - a moving meditation on care and harm, a love letter to the natural world, and a playful inquiry into language and form. Irvin is a writer of astonishing talent who has achieved something truly special with this strange, beautiful and entirely singular novel -- GABRIELLE GRIFFITHS
Epic and intimate, brimming with fierce love and jagged wonder, Life Cycle of a Moth is the kind of book whose pages you can't stop turning even as you don't want them to end. There are echoes here of visionary wordsmiths like Eimear McBride, Ursula K. Le Guin and Marlen Haushofer, but the accomplishment - as singular as it is striking - is all Irvin's own -- LAIRD HUNT, National Book Award finalist for ZORRIE

Rowe Irvin is a writer and artist. In 2025 she was named one of the Observer's Best New Novelists. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and her work has appeared in Prototype, Southword and the Stinging Fly. Life Cycle of a Moth is her first book.

@bog__daughter

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781837262489
ISBN 10	1837262489
Title	Life Cycle of a Moth
Author	Rowe Irvin
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Canongate Books
Year published	2026-06-04
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.