Elaine Garvey

SHORTLISTED FOR THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARDAN IRISH TIMES DEBUT AUTHOR TO LOOK OUT FOR 2025'Beautifully written' LOUISE KENNEDY'Full of verve and wit and humanity' MARY COSTELLO'Clever and original' TLS'A tremendous new talent' KEVIN BARRY Mairéad works tirelessly in a run-down West End theatre's wardrobe department - mending shoes, fixing broken zips and even handwashing underwear. She must also sidestep groping hands backstage and withstand the relentless bullying of the show's producer. The job was meant to be the first step towards the life Mairéad has always wanted, and yet half of her remains back home in Ireland, along with everything she abandoned there. A reckoning with the past is coming and, with it, the need to forge a new present - one stitch at a time.

Mairead works all hours in a run-down West End theatre''s wardrobe department, her whole existence made up of threads and needles, running errands to mend shoes, fixing broken zips and handwashing underwear. She must also do her best to avoid groping hands backstage and the terrible bullying of the show''s producer.But, despite her skill and growing experience, half of Mai? d remains in her windy, hedge-filled home in Ireland, and the life she abandoned there. In noughties London, she has the potential to be somebody completely new - why, then, does she feel so stuck? Between the bustling side streets of Soho, and the wet grass of Leitrim and Donegal, Mai? d is caught, running from the girl she was but unable to reveal the woman she''d hoped to become.Told with rare honesty and equal measures of warmth and bite, The Wardrobe Department is a story about reckoning with the past, finding the courage to change the present - and asking what comes next.

A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST DEBUT OF 2025Mairéad works all hours in a run-down West End theatre''s wardrobe department, her whole existence made up of threads and needles, running errands to mend shoes, fixing broken zips and handwashing underwear. She must also do her best to avoid groping hands backstage and the terrible bullying of the show''s producer.But, despite her skill and growing experience, half of Mairéad remains in her windy, hedge-filled home in Ireland, and the life she abandoned there. In noughties London, she has the potential to be somebody completely new - why, then, does she feel so stuck? Between the bustling side streets of Soho, and the wet grass of Leitrim and Donegal, Mairéad is caught, running from the girl she was but unable to reveal the woman she''d hoped to become.Told with rare honesty and equal measures of warmth and bite, The Wardrobe Department is a story about reckoning with the past, finding the courage to change the present - and asking what comes next.