The Galway Girl A coming-of-age romance set in Ireland ? Book One of The Galway Girl Trilogy
It's the summer of 1986. Tom Carter is fifteen, Edgware-born, and absolutely convinced that three weeks in Galway will be the worst of his life. He's packed his Walkman, his notebook, and his late grandfather's camera. He has not packed an open mind.
Then he spills chips on a girl outside a chip shop, and everything gets considerably more complicated.
Niamh Flynn knows every hidden beach, every cobbled back street, every secret worth knowing about the west of Ireland. She walks fast, talks straight, and keeps a biscuit tin full of small things that matter. She is not interested in being anyone's holiday romance. Tom is not interested in admitting that's exactly what he's hoping for.
Set against the wild Atlantic coastline of Galway, this heartwarming coming-of-age love story is about a camera, a notebook, a blue bracelet, and what it costs to let someone truly see you ? maybe for the first time.
Perfect for fans of David Nicholls, Mike Gayle, Cecelia Ahern, and Jenny Han, and perfect for readers who loved Normal People, Once and Sing Street.
If you love feel-good romance novels, emotional coming-of-age fiction, Irish settings, or uplifting summer reads that stay with you long after the last page, The Galway Girl is the book for you.
A warm, funny, and deeply felt first novel in a trilogy that spans decades ? following one unforgettable summer and everything it sets in motion.
Some summers end. Some don't.
Reviews
This gem of a read checks all the boxes of what a coming-of-age romance should have. Funny, kind of quirky, and the innocence of young love blossoming.
I could read this again and again. In fact, I will put this book under my list of books to read when I feel like I need a good hopeless romance moment.
It's a very lovingly thought out and well written read. A beautiful light shining on Galway. And a sweet reflection on photography, keepsakes and holding those special in our every day.
Definitely love Steve McCarthy's description and details of not only characters but places as well. Described everything so perfect you felt like you were in Galway yourself. Will be adding this author to my TBR author permanent list.
Autorentext
Steve McCarthy a contemporary fiction author, as well as a landscape, sports & events photographer and podcaster, based in Wiltshire (often found chasing light along Cornwall's north coast). Whatever the medium, Steve is obsessed with stories?especially the small, everyday moments that change everything.
In his novels, he writes warm, hopeful, heartfelt stories about time, second chances and the lives we almost lived: contemporary fiction that treats ordinary people and their emotions with care, humour and honesty. I love exploring how a single decision?a missed train, a delayed moment, a chance encounter?can ripple through a life.
That same storytelling instinct drives his photography. On the sports and events side, he shoots with energy and empathy?clean, accurate and fast.
His landscape work is slower and more reflective. Drawn to places where weather, tide and terrain collide, and he aims to make images that feel like scenes from a story?prints that bring back not just how a coastline looked, but how it felt to stand there.