The Alternatives

By: Caoilinn Hughes

Narrated by: Sarah Bolger, Aisling Franciosi, Caoilinn Hughes, Dominique McElligott, Liam Heslin, John Keating

The Flattery sisters were plunged prematurely into adulthood when their parents died in tragic circumstances. Now in their thirties – all single, all with PhDs – they are each attempting to do meaningful work in a rapidly foundering world. The four lead disparate, distanced lives, from classrooms in Connecticut to ritzy catering gigs in London’s Notting Hill, until one day their oldest sister, a geologist haunted by a terrible awareness of the earth’s future, abruptly vanishes from her work and home.

Together for the first time in years, the Flatterys descend on the Irish countryside in search of a sister who doesn’t want to be found. Sheltered in a derelict bungalow, they reach into their common past, confronting both old wounds and a desperately uncertain future.

Warm, fiercely witty and unexpectedly hopeful, The Alternatives is an unforgettable portrait of a family perched on our collective precipice, told by one of Ireland’s most gifted storytellers.

©2024 Caoilinn Hughes (P)2024 Penguin Random House LLC

Critic reviews

'The Alternatives unfolds in a prose full of gorgeous surprises and glows with intelligence, compassion, and beauty.' (Hernan Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Trust)

'The Alternatives is fizzy, brainy, and brilliant, always at the service of a drama of great emotional power. Caoilinn Hughes is an extraordinarily gifted writer.' (Joseph O'Neill, author of Netherland and The Dog)

'A massive talent.' (Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of All the Light We Cannot See)