A Keeper: A Novel

Written by Graham Norton

Narrated by Graham Norton

From Graham Norton—the BAFTA Award–winning Irish television host and author of the “charming debut novel” (New York Journal of Books) Holding—a masterly and haunting tale of secrets and ill-fated love follows a young woman as she returns to Ireland after her mother’s death and unravels the identity of her father.

When Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after her mother’s death, she’s focused only on saying goodbye to that dark and dismal part of her life. Her childhood home is packed solid with useless junk, her mother’s presence already fading. But within this mess, she discovers a small stash of letters—and ultimately, the truth.

Forty years earlier, a young woman stumbles from a remote stone house, the night quiet except for the constant wind that encircles her as she hurries deeper into the darkness away from the cliffs and the sea. She has no sense of where she is going, only that she must keep on.

With wistful and evocative prose, A Keeper is sure to appeal to “fans of sensitive character studies” (Publishers Weekly) and brilliantly illustrates Graham Norton’s clear-eyed understanding of human nature and its darkest flaws.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Aug 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781508295792

Graham Norton

Graham Norton is the author of the novels Holding, which was a New York Times bestseller and won the 2016 Irish Independent Popular Fiction Award, and A Keeper. One of the UK's best loved broadcasters, Graham has won eight BAFTAs and is the host of The Graham Norton Show on BBC1 and BBC America, has a weekly show on BBC Radio 2, and writes a column for the Telegraph. Born in Dublin and raised in West Cork, he now lives in London.

Reviews for A Keeper

[Kim M. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Captivating! Graham renders a great performance of his novel; consisting of heartbreak, love, sacrifice and revelation spanning generations, in his clever, character-driven tale.

[Katie Landau · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book, it had unexpected twists and turns and the narrator was wonderful.
He transported me to the little village in Ireland.

[Elena · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was surprised! I've always loved Graham....but you know how it is...celebrities think they can write. But Graham really can! I enjoyed it and am looking forward to his next book!

[Michele Wells · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic read. Twists and turns and riveting to the end

[Dawn Rettinger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well written and performed, great story with twists and turns. For mystery fans as well as multi generational time lines.

[Susan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not to be missed. A fresh take on every day life. I was happy that the brogue did not overpower the narrators delivery.

[steven1958 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

They say you can't pick your family. How true that is.Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after the death of her mother and finds out that her family history is a far cry from what she believed. A Keeper is a story about a young woman looking for love, who winds up a prisoner and her struggle for freedom with a baby who is not hers.

[Janvier Schutz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Graham is a great story teller. This was a very enjoyable book!

[priya h · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Graham Norton is all heart. This story has pace, movement, and also some very keen insights into being a parent, an bolder person, someone who has experienced loss, joy, realizations, and despair.

[Kerrie Greene · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Much less a mystery than a saga… definitely not what I thought I was signing up for. The story seemed to lack depth.. there was tremendous amount of detail, but yet I never felt emotionally connected in any way. Perhaps had it been a bit shorter, or the narration better, it would have stood a chance, but this is one I struggled with.
Narration is irritating - the tempo feels very very rushed, to the point of having to reduce it to .8xs to endure it. A sound editor would have been tremendously helpful as there was a LOT of smacking/tail ends of swallows - which is something that drives me out of my mind. Character narration is… interesting… and not in a good way.
Overall the book just deemed stretched a bit thin, covering too many areas.. from birth to death, Ireland to nyc, short and long term relationships, estrangements, homophobia (had the author not been a gay man there are a few lines which seem downright hateful toward lgbtq), inappropriate student/teacher interactions plus kidnapping and abandonment.
Beyond happy it’s over and regret my choice to see it through to the end. Skip this one!

[chelsea meshko · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Whoa! Best book of the year!!! Hadn’t read what the book was about. I thought that maybe it wasn’t a mystery, but the writing was so good that I kept listening. What! Talk about twists and turns! Amazingly creative!

[EH · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Best. What a talent of a writer. Thank you !!

[rosienotrose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Engaging story of secrets and identity and finding out who you really are where nothing is as you might expect. Personally I found Norton's first book much more interesting but this definitely held my attention in wanting to find out what would happen!

[huntersun9 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Trope: Distant daughter returns to her childhood home in Ireland after mother's death and uncovers family secrets. Good story blending past and present.

[rosalita_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Elizabeth Keane has been living in New York City for the past 20 years. Six months after her mother’s death, she is back in her Irish hometown of Buncarragh for perhaps the final time, tying up the final threads of her late mother’s estate. She’s already exhausted just thinking of all she has to do when she is distracted by discovering a trove of letters hidden away in her mother’s closet. The letters are from Edward Foley, the father Elizabeth never knew. On impulse, Elizabeth decides to travel to the West Cork address Foley wrote on his letters and try to learn more about the time of her life that her mother Patricia refused to talk about. The narrative alternates between the present and the past, as we slowly learn the story of Patricia and Edward’s courtship and how everything goes pear-shaped.For all that it starts as a conventional family saga, A Keeper (2018) by Graham Norton takes a turn toward what I can only term Irish Gothic in its recounting of what really happened 40 years ago that ended with Patricia raising Elizabeth as a single parent. There are so many parallels among the generational stories: Patricia raising Elizabeth as a single mother; Elizabeth marrying and divorcing, leaving her to raise her own son, Zach, in a single-parent home; Zach’s own complicated romantic entanglements. Norton deftly juggles all three storylines without losing sight of the narrative’s focus. The answers may lie in the past with Patricia and Edward, but it is Elizabeth’s present and to a lesser extent Zach’s future that form the heart of the novel.Norton is a skillful storyteller. I was immediately engrossed in Elizabeth’s life and shared her curiosity about what her mother had been hiding all those years. And I felt equally sympathetic and interested in Patricia’s story, such that the impatience I often feel when a novel switches from one timeline to another never materialized. The ending, while just a bit on the nose in its dénouement, was nonetheless satisfying. A keeper, indeed.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was NOT what I was expecting! This quiet Irish tale takes a dark turn. Elizabeth goes to Ireland to close her mother Patricia’s estate after her death. She uncovers some unexpected news about her parents and the book flashes back to her mother’s POV in the past. She meets a lonely farmer through an ad and the two begin an awkward courtship. This writing was weak in parts, but the story was interesting. I could easily have cut the entire subplot with Elizabeth’s son. I liked the tone of the book, but I felt the plot became a little far-fetched at times. Edward‘s character wasn’t very believable. He also did not love how cheesy the ending became with everything coming full circle a little too neatly.

[fliss88_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found the ending disappointing. I would have liked to see the mystery totally revealed.

[elainedav · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first novel I have read by BBC TV presenter Graham Norton and it didn't disappoint!Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland following the death of her mother, to clear the house and put it on the market for sale. She quickly finds some old letters and gradually a story unfolds about both her mother's and her own past. At the same time she discovers that her teenage son is not with his father in San Francisco, but in fact is staying with his much older girlfriend.This is one of those books with two storylines, one in the past and one in the present, which unfold together. Cleverly written and engaging throughout. Definitely worth a read.Thank you to Netgalley for providing an early copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I could NOT put this DOWN! Just a terrific novel---the THEN an NOW aspects worked perfectly and I was especially pleased with the AFTER. I will now go and find his earlier novel: Holding

[kathl33n-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What an interesting story this was! I haven't read the author's first book, but have heard so many great things that I was excited to give this one a try. It was filled with really great characters that just popped to life on the pages and I especially enjoyed the tour around parts of Ireland. The plot was interestingly twisted and kept me incredibly engaged throughout. It was like a breath of fresh air to read. No disgusting, grisly serial killers, no dark psychopathic thoughts - just a good old mystery of normal people's lives. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a copy; my review is my own opinion.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When Elizabeth Keane returned to Ireland to close up her mother's house she thought she knew who she was, although her mother had been a single parent, and Elizabeth had never seen her father. Her mother had said he was dead.But then a bundle of letters reveals a strange courtship between her mother and father and Elizabeth feels the need to visit the place where she was born.The story is told in two main time frames, the present day and four decades earlier when her mother Patricia apparently put an advertisement in the Lonely Hearts column of a farming journal. The narration easily slips between current time and the time when the letters were written.A very enjoyable read, on the outer edges of crime fiction.

[squirrelhead_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The big draw for me was the Irish setting, an old house and a mystery about a past life. The book is divided by chapters titled Now and Then. We start off in present with Elizabeth Keane returning to her childhood home in Ireland. Her mother has died and Elizabeth must clear out the house and make a decision regarding selling.Elizabeth was never extremely close to her mother Patricia, often wishing she had a father figure in her life. Whenever she asked questions about her father Patricia would always say he was a kind man and he died shortly after they were married. After college she moved to New York and started her own life, marrying, divorcing and ending up with a son named Zach.Now she is back in Ireland to see the home she inherited, trying to avoid her nosy cousins, anxious to return home. Now that wouldn’t be me! I would love to have a home in Ireland and spend half the year there. Anyway, as she’s cleaning out a wardrobe she comes across a package of handwritten letters, love letters from her father Edward Foley.We drift into the Then chapters and see what Patricia was like fifty years ago. As you read the backstory about Edward and Patricia, get to know the horror of Edward’s mother (I mean truly) the story that unfolds takes such a neck braking twist that I couldn’t out it down. Trust me, you’ll be surprised.Elizabeth’s son Zach and ex-husband have minor roles; mostly they could have been left out in my opinion but it adds slightly to the story. If you’d like to armchair travel to West Cork Ireland (past and present) and enjoy a mystery you will enjoy this book.When I requested this book I didn’t know the author was the Graham Norton, the Irish television host. Impressive – I will certainly look for more by Mr. Norton.Much thanks to Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book. Publication date is August 13, 2019. All opinions are mine and I was not compensated for this review.Sharing with Joy for the British Isles Friday series.

[carolburnett-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book! Graham is a multi-talented person and this book shows what a great writer he is. Marian Keyes wrote: '...his writing is evocative and perfect. His grasp of human loneliness and longing is beautiful and comforting." I can't top that!

[nicx27 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure what I expected from this book, my first by Graham Norton, but it wasn't what I got. For the first few chapters I couldn't help but read it imagining Norton's slightly mocking tone of voice but once I put that aside I was thoroughly engrossed in this dual timeline novel.This is a story of Now and Then. 'Now' is when Elizabeth Keane comes back to Ireland from New York to sort out her late mother's estate, including her house. Being back in her childhood home is far from easy for her - family vultures are descending on her and she feels out of kilter there. A surprise discovery leads her to Castle House, a remote place near the sea and from there she uncovers even more surprises from the past.The 'Then' story is the story of Elizabeth's mother, Patricia, 40+ years earlier. Having spent her prime looking after her mother she wonders if it's too late to find love. I don't want to say anything more about Patricia's story as I think the reader must find out for themselves. However, what I will say is that it is Patricia's story that surprised me and wasn't at all what I was expecting. It's a little incredible but also very well done. It certainly has a dark side to it and looks at how tragic circumstances can affect the mind. This is a book that has some very mixed up people in it making it a bit disturbing in nature. Ultimately, though, they're mixed up due to terrible events and there's a real sense of despair and unhappiness running through it. Elizabeth's tale is more investigatory. When she finds some letters hidden in her mother's wardrobe it leads her to question all that she believed about her past. I do tend to prefer the more modern side of dual timeline books for this reason and this book was no exception as Elizabeth travels through Ireland searching for answers.I enjoy stories that jump around and allow the past and present to intermingle so A Keeper suited me very well. I think this is an intelligent and thoughtful book with a few one liners that smacked of the author's humour, but mainly a serious story of mothers and their children and all they will do to see them happy and settled. I'd definitely read another book by Graham Norton (I must get round to Holding) as he has a perceptive writing style, one which really appeals to me.