And Notre Dame is Burning

''Miriam Robinson is an incredible writer and this is an astounding debut . . . This will definitely be on prize lists'' Nina Pottell, Prima Magazine

''A beautiful account of one woman''s story that shines with the truth of all our stories'' Sophie Ward, author of Love and Other Thought Experiments

''Robinson''s debut is exceptional'' Katie Fraser, The Bookseller

''A heartbreakingly beautiful novel about the beginnings and ends of life and love and marriage, with echoes of Claire Kilroy and Miranda July in its honesty about the female experience. Miriam Robinson is a vital new voice in literary fiction, and I can''t wait to see what she does next'' Hattie Williams, author of Bitter Sweet

''A stunning exploration of betrayal'' Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure for Sleep

I find myself wondering what would have happened if I had been more clear. If our relationship had not begun with this one tiny untruth.

Time has flattened for Esther.

Her storybook marriage begins, and ends, in the shadow of Notre Dame cathedral. Sifting through the ashes of their years together, a time now collapsed by grief, she finds a mismatched litany: mountain lions, a Paris bookshop, bad dancing, bad faith, marshland, prairieland, miscarriage, motherhood, bagels, Eve.

In order to understand this new story, Esther seeks help - from generations of women, from a book about evolution, from a friendly philosopher/scientist with a solid grasp of the space-time continuum.

Mostly, though, she writes - fragments, notes, letters - tracing a fine line between a story that soothes and one that suffocates; confronting the impossibility of communicating anything in the right way, at the right moment, to her daughter. Esther writes, and rewrites, until time slowly takes shape again.

This extraordinary debut is an excavation of betrayal, of motherhood, of time and timelessness, of guilt and consequence, of love coming to an end. Told with dry wit and a startling ferocity, And Notre Dame is Burning heralds an urgent new voice in literary fiction.