Hollow Bound

HOLLOW BOUNDA novel by Laura CarpenterLiterary Fiction Women’s Fiction Intergenerational Drama Irish-Canadian IdentityA red ribbon. A boarded-up house. A silence that was never just silence.When Maeve Brennan returns to her family homestead in the rural borderlands between memory and myth, she doesn’t expect to find a ribbon tied to the fencepost—the same kind her mother used to wear in her hair before the fire, before the departure, before the long hush swallowed their family whole.Inside the once-vibrant farmhouse now left hollow by time, Maeve finds fragments of the life they never spoke of: journals with torn-out pages, receipts with her father’s handwriting, and newspaper clippings about a girl who went missing the year Maeve was born.As the days pass and the rooms settle around her, Maeve uncovers a layered legacy of motherhood, grief, and silence—one stitched with secrets and held fast by generations of women who learned how to disappear without ever leaving. Her journey spirals through timelines: her mother’s coming-of-age in 1960s Ireland, a fierce wartime love story gone wrong, and the summer Maeve herself vanished for three days at age six—only to reappear, clutching a ribbon and unable to speak.But some houses remember.Some bloodlines don’t forgive.And some ghosts aren’t ghosts at all.---Why This Book Is UnmissableAward-caliber storytelling: Written by acclaimed Irish-Canadian author Laura Carpenter, Hollow Bound blends haunting emotional resonance with lyrical, cinematic prose. Carpenter’s work has been shortlisted for the IPPYs, Indie Book Awards, and the An Post Irish Book Awards.Deeply human themes: The novel explores the fragile threads between mothers and daughters, the haunting pull of intergenerational trauma, and the resilience of women who refuse to disappear quietly.Critics say:“An extraordinary literary triumph. As lyrical as it is gutting. Hollow Bound is the kind of novel you inhale and then grieve when it’s over.”Book club favorite: With rich symbolism, page-turning mystery, and deeply layered emotional revelations, this novel is ideal for reading groups, discussion events, and literary circles seeking powerful narratives with heart and bite.---Comparison TitlesLittle Fires Everywhere – Celeste NgThe Paper Palace – Miranda Cowley HellerThe Dutch House – Ann PatchettAsk Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane---Keywords for KDP MetadataIrish fiction, women’s literary fiction, dual timeline, intergenerational trauma, family secrets, rural gothic, missing girl mystery, silent mothers, Irish Canadian novel, haunting prose, poetic suspense, literary family saga, healing after grief, emotional mystery, mother-daughter secrets, ancestral silence, ribbon symbolism, feminine rage, ghost story literary, memory house fiction, dark love story, cross-generational novel, domestic suspense, Irish diaspora, trauma legacy---Author InfoAuthor Website: www.lauracarpenterbooks.comInstagram TikTok Threads: @lauracarpenterbooks