After Shell's mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. Her only release from the harshness of everyday life comes from her budding spiritual friendship with a naive young priest, and most importantly, her developing relationship with childhood friend, Declan, charming, eloquent and persuasive. But when Declan suddenly leaves Ireland to seek his fortune in America, Shell finds herself pregnant and the centre of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again.



Movingly written, this is a sad but not a dismal story, given Shell's resilient personality and the support she gets from a generous-hearted priest. This debut novel is a fine and memorable achievement: it never sells its characters short and always stays close to what was thought to have happened at the time.
Nick TuckerThe Independent

By far the best novel I read in 2005 is by PEN's own Siobhan Dowd... it's already causing a buzz in the world of children's books. It's a beautifully written, lyrical story... if it doesn't appear on all the major children's book award shortlists next I'll be amazed (and very, very cross). Look out for it.
Tony BradmanPEN newsletter

Siobhan Dowd's novel was inspired by a true story, but it has the momentum and fascination of a detective story. In a densely woven tapestry of poetic language, sensations, and childhood experience, Dowd's characters stumble through life, bewildered and bereaved, reviving feelings and emotions that are most usually pushed into the back recesses of the mind in adulthood... has the fresh voice of a new author.
Jamila GavinThe Guardian

A Swift Pure Cry is the brilliant and heartbreaking debut novel by Siobhan Dowd inspired by a true story. This story is told with the innocence and naivety of a young girl and leaves the reader to feel the true emotion behind it. This story will have you hooked; you will go through the usual emotions a well-written book should stir up � laughter, sadness, anger, and compassion. The only criticism I could give this book is that it was not long enough, I wanted more and I think that is the always a good sign.
Irish Post

A superb first novel, beautifully written, deeply moving and full of heartbreak. Siobhan Dowd writes without judgement but with enormous sympathy and understanding capturing Shell�s confusion and the hypercritical and chaotic thinking of the small Irish community in which she is growing up.
Julia EccleshareLovereading4kids

A compelling story, well told...it is compulsive reading.
Oxford Times

The plight of the pregnant heroine is conveyed with compassion and tenderness�a very human account to make readers weep yet also rejoice at the support she gains from her younger brother and sister.
Lesley AgnewThe Bookseller

The language is simple, the imagery evocative. The story is sad and familiar. It heaves with memories of another lifetime, like a family album. This is, above all, an affectionate novel.... it should be read by anyone who is or ever was a teenager.
Irish Independent