Nesting cover art

Nesting

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Nesting

By: Roisin O'Donnell
Narrated by: Louisa Harland
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 This audiobook is narrated by Louisa Harland, star of Derry Girls and Renegade Nell.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER
A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK
AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2025

'Tense, forensically realistic and compulsively readable. A real achievement' SUNDAY TIMES

‘Here is a novelist who has powerful news to tell, and an impressive range of narrative gifts with which to tell it’ IRISH TIMES

‘Should become essential reading for all. Nesting​ is a novel that truly matters’ SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

'A moving portrait of life inside the housing system and the courage it takes to try to build a home in society’s cracks'​ GUARDIAN
_______________________________________________________________

An extraordinary and urgent debut by a prize-winning Irish writer, NESTING introduces an unforgettable new voice in fiction.

On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.

This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.

What will it take for Ciara to rebuild her life? Can she ever truly break away from Ryan’s control – and what will be the cost?

Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love, hope and resilience, this is the story of one woman’s bid to start over.
_______________________________________________________________
‘Brand-new, urgent and hugely satisfying’ RODDY DOYLE

'As emotionally charged as it is brutally real. The writing is flawless. I was profoundly moved’ ELAINE FEENEY

‘Will make your blood boil and your heart soar. This is an important novel' CLAIRE KILROY

‘Gorgeous, maddening, thrilling and compassionate’ SHEILA ARMSTRONG©2025 Roisin O'Donnell (P)2025 Simon & Schuster, UK Editors Select Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political World Literature Ireland Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Boys Don't Cry cover art
A Time for Truth cover art
The Stolen Child cover art
The Life You Left cover art
Our London Lives cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
This book is every mother’s worse nightmare. A monster of a husband and being hit with a wall at every turn. This book is so fantastic your heart beats like a thriller and at times you get so frustrated with Ciara who is just doing the best job she can. This is a woman who has been forced beyond the brink.

Mother

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A harrowing tale that rings so very true. Beautifully told and stays with you. This one is well worth reading.

Powerful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The perspective of this book is so realistic, you understand the pain , the mental exhaustions and the effort to break the cycle

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Heart wrenching story - moments of such sweetness throw into stark contrast the menacing threat of the controlling and coercive husband and the seemingly insurmountable challenges Ciara and her children face. Couldn’t stop listening and the narration was faultless.

Compelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Once I started Nesting I couldn’t stop. A fantastic, raw book about a woman’s struggle with coercive control. Amid the brutality of Ciara’s situation, the layers of bureaucracy was the beauty of people and a society that cared, wrapped in nature that unflinching continued one season at a time.

Absolutely Fantastic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I've not loved a book so much for a long time.. what a beautifully written story..I personally identified with a lot of this book.. and grew up in Sheffield so those references were also nostalgic for me.. I loved how this strong woman in the end showed they could rise and find strength against any odds. when they have no choice but to fight. it is the hardest thing to do..I know x

A beautifully written and told story..

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this book! Captured the fear and sense of constant dread in someone trapped in an emotionally abusive relationship. Beautifully written.

Compelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I couldn’t stop listening, the story, narration just row honest and amazing, I couldn’t stop listening

Row honest

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved the narrator! This story is so real. The power women have to have to go through something like this and come out on the other side still with love and hope. A powerful story that should be heard!

Nesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved the way the book drew me into the story from page one.
The narrator was perfect for this story and so easy to listen to. Looking forward to anything else written by this author.

Couldn’t put the book down

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews