The Irish Goodbye

In this debut, for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan and Mary Beth Keane, three adult sisters grapple with a shared tragedy over a Thanksgiving weekend as they try to heal strained family bonds through the passage of time.

It's been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home on the eastern shore of Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by an accident on their brother Topher's boat: A friend's brother was killed, the resulting lawsuit nearly bankrupted their parents, and Topher spiraled into depression, eventually taking his life. Now the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, eager to reconnect, but each carrying a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush: Topher's best friend and the brother of the boy who died. Middle sister, Alice, has been thrown a curveball that threatens the career she's restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk of bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother. Infusing everything is the grief for Topher that none of the Ryans have figured out how to carry together.

When Cait invites a guest from their shared past to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves—and one another.

From the publisher

Macmillan/Henry Holt and Co. | 09/30/2025 | 288 Pages | ISBN:9781250408150 | Women's Fiction Your may also like:

1. How does the title The Irish Goodbye resonate with the novel's themes of disappearance, avoidance, and emotional distance?

2. How does the novel treat the idea of redemption? How are each of the sisters able to begin again?

3. Port Haven, the Folly, and even the beach hold emotional resonance for the family. What's the role of place in the novel?

4. How does the novel explore motherhood? From Nora's experience growing up without a mother to Cait being a single mother and Alice's decision around keeping her pregnancy.

5. What role does art play in the novel—Isabel's playwriting, Alice's domestic stagecraft, Maggie reading Anna Karenina, and Nora as a painter?

6. Class and money play a role in the characters' lives, especially in Cait's striving and Alice's struggling. How does money shape their relationships, choices, and sense of identity?

7. What is the significance of secrets in the novel? What are the costs and perceived protections of the secrets characters keep from each other?

8. How do you think the boat accident shaped the Ryan family? Is Maggie right when she says that maybe they would be who they are regardless of Daniel and Topher's deaths?

9. What role do men play in the novel—Topher, Kyle, Bram, Luke? How do they influence or fail the women around them?

10. Each sister plays a different role in the family: Cait, the high-achieving eldest, Alice, the reliable middle child, and Maggie, the independent youngest. How do these roles shape the way they treat each other?

11. At times, the sisters orbit one another without fully seeing each other. What are the barriers to intimacy between them? What moments allow for genuine connection?

12. Maggie describes everyone in her family using a single word. What word would you choose for her? Do you agree with the way she's described the other members of the family?

Book Club Talking Points:
The Irish Goodbye is a book about three adult sisters who go back to their childhood home on Long Island for Thanksgiving. During their visit, they uncover family secrets and confront a past tragedy.The book feels authentic and not forced. Each sister faces her own challenges, such as marriage issues, hidden guilt, and coming out to a conservative mother. Their honest way of handling these issues is noticeable. It's a great pick for book clubs because everyone will probably relate to a different sister and have strong views on whether to keep the family secrets hidden.

A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick

"A sparkling debut, The Irish Goodbye is a rich, compassionate novel about sisterhood, marriage, grief, and forgiveness." -Jenny Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street

"The family saga we all need-utterly un-put downable, beautifully drawn, thrilling and heartfelt at once and totally not to be missed. Heather Aimee O'Neill has arrived with gorgeous skills and a keen eye for what drives families apart, and brings them together, too." -Jessica Soffer, New York Times bestselling author of This Is a Love Story

"I picked up The Irish Goodbye one morning and finished it later that night, unable to do anything else until I got to the end. These characters captured my heart, and I got lost in this family weekend full of secrets, resentment, and emotional landmines. Heather Aimee O'Neill has written a beautiful debut about family, grief, love, and loss." -Jennifer Close, bestselling author of Marrying the Ketchups

"Lovingly rendered and acutely felt, The Irish Goodbye takes the reader into the aching, complicated nooks and crannies of a single family trying to find their way back to one another, even as none is sure they have hold of themselves. A beautiful and moving debut." -Lynn Steger Strong, author of The Float Test

"Emotionally gripping and achingly poignant, The Irish Goodbye is about the secrets we keep from our families and from ourselves. In the Ryans, Heather Aimee O'Neill has created a family that, despite its glimmering specificity, could very well be our own. Mesmerizing." -Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year

"The Irish Goodbye has it all: a lovable cast of complex characters; forbidden affairs; a stately, crumbling beach house; a doomed sailboat; long-suppressed family secrets; and one pressure-cooker of a holiday weekend. Above all, this finely-crafted novel explores what it means to be a family, and what we owe each other and ourselves." -Amy Shearn, award-winning author of Animal Instinct and Unseen City

"Fans of writers from Maeve Binchy to Alice McDermott to J. Courtney Sullivan will relish this big-hearted novel." -Kirkus

"O'Neill, a poet and writing coach, brings her skills to her compelling debut....This melancholy yet loving novel is perfect for fans of Jennifer E. Smith's Fun for the Whole Family." -Booklist