BOOKS

Selected praise for Be Ready for the Lightning

“A gripping, twisty novel… hijacked bus, complex loves, more!” —@MargaretAtwood

“With her razor wit and flawless ear for human speech, O’Connell turns the rare trick of writing a novel that reads as though an actual person was sitting next to you telling her story.” — The Globe & Mail

“Be Ready for the Lightning totals you with a tidal flow of fear, suspense, affection and the singular brand of sadness that accompanies hard truth told well.” —The National Post

“Ambitious and effective… [O’Connell’s] risk-taking is the source of the novel’s electrifying energy.” — Quill & Quire

“If the Keanu Reeves hit Speed were reincarnated as insightful literary fiction.” —ELLE Canada

“A riveting story of an indelible life… I didn’t want it to end.” —Elan Mastai, author of All Our Wrong Todays

“Be Ready for the Lightning is both a gripping page-turner and a heartfelt examination of what it means to be compassionate, even in the most extreme situations. Cinematic and timely, it’s a book you will not be able to put down.” —Zoe Whittall, author of The Best Kind of People

Available via:
Your favourite local bookstore
Indigo
Amazon.ca (paperback)
Amazon.ca (Kindle ebook)
Kobo
Apple ibooks
In French translation from Éditions du Boréal

“O’Connell has a deliriously good style, swooping through layers of consciousness and comprehension with elegance and even a bit of humour” – Quill & Quire

“She’s a beautiful writer. Line by line, her prose is sensate and evocative, toying with words and images and reframing them in wonderfully counterintuitive, surprising ways” – The Walrus

“A haunting story about love and fragility, the permeable line between truth and the imagination, absence and longing, grieving and coming through. Here is a drenching swim in the strongest currents of feeling, the link between mothers and daughters, fathers, lovers and the very fine line between what we know to be real, and what we cannot ever know for certain.” —Lisa Moore, author of February

“Magnified World is a powerful debut that fearlessly tackles the fears and joys of the heart. There is poetry on the path that lies beyond loss, and Grace O’Connell has found it.” —Ami McKay, author of The Virgin Cure and The Birth House

Available via:
Your favourite local bookstore
Indigo
Amazon.ca (paperback)
Amazon.ca (Kindle ebook)
Kobo
Apple iBookstore

Hosting a book club? Check out these Magnified World discussion questions.

SELECTED SHORT FICTION