Esther’s marriage begins, and ends, in the shadow of Notre Dame cathedral. Now, time has flattened. Sifting through the ashes of their years together, Esther finds a litany of feelings and memories that no longer make sense, offer no comfort, and that she cannot trust. Esther seeks help – from generations of women, books, a philosopher, from her own mother – but mostly, she writes. Fragments, notes, letters. Esther writes, and rewrites, until time slowly takes shape again. Miriam Robinson’s powerful debut is an excavation of betrayal, motherhood, guilt and consequence; of love coming to an end. Told with wit, empathy and startling ferocity, And Notre Dame is Burning is a novel of wounds and of healing.
