The Fallen

When the gates of the last Magdalene Laundry closed in 1996, Ireland moved on. Or so it seemed.

'Enraging ... superb' JOHN BANVILLE, Guardian
'Remarkable' Sunday Times
'An extraordinary gift ... both an education and a page-turner' DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA
'Highly readable and intelligently engaging' FINTAN O'TOOLE, TLS
'Indispensable' ANNE ENRIGHT
'A terrific unearthing of Ireland's shadowland. A landmark book' RORY CARROLL
'Vivid, fluent ... a serious contribution to a subject that has still not been laid to rest' Irish Times
'Powerful ... authoritative, passionate' Mail on Sunday

Published to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the last Laundry’s closure, The Fallen is the forgotten story of the Magdalene Laundries, told through the voices of the women who endured them, the nuns who presided over them and the communities that lived alongside them.

Unflinching and compassionate, Louise Brangan draws on archives and survivors’ testimonies to dismantle long-held myths about what the Laundries were, who was sent to these places of violence and secrecy, and why. As we move from the past into the present, Brangan compels us not only to confront this shameful history, but to ask a deeper question: what do we choose to remember?

'Engrossing … it feels part novel' MARY McCARTHY, Irish Independent
'Critical, informed and beautifully written' MÁIRÉAD ENRIGHT
'A forensic ... detailed and haunting history' SEÁN O’HAGAN, Observer

Winner of the 2024 Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Award