As heard on BBC Radio 4 Book at bedtime, it was shortlisted for the irish book awards novel of the year 2014. She stood on the edge of the grass. She hovered between worlds, deciphering the ground, tracing in mid-air the hall, the dining-room, the stairs. She was despairingly close to home now, to the rooms & the voices that contained the first names for home. Memories abounded & her heart pounded & history broke in.. . Growing up in the west of Ireland in the 1940s Tess is a shy introverted child. But beneath her quiet exterior lies a heart of fire. A fire that will later drive her to make her home among the hurly burly of 1960s New York. Over four decades & a life lived with quiet intensity on Academy Street in upper Manhattan, Tess encounters ferocious love & calamitous loss. But what endures is her bravery & fortitude, & her striking insights even as she is `floating close to hazard.` Joyous & heart-breaking, restrained but sweeping, this is a profoundly moving story that charts one woman`s quest for belonging amid the dazzle & tumult of America`s greatest city. Academy Street establishes Mary Costello as one of Ireland`s most exciting literary voices.