Confined to her bed in the attic of her family home in County Clare, Ruthie Swaindaughter of a dead poet and survivor of a mysterious collapsespends her days searching for the father she lost and the meaning he left behind. Surrounded by his towering library, she sets out to read every book he ever loved, hoping to uncover the shape of the man who shaped her.

Through generations of family lorewritten and spokenRuthie chronicles the legacy of the Swains and the MacCarrolls: their fishermen, dreamers, and storytellers. With wit, pathos, and her own Superabundance of Style, she writes Ireland into the margins of her confinementthe rain-soaked fields, the rivers pull, and the ache of absence. In telling their stories, Ruthie may just find a way to return to her own.

History of the Rain is a moving meditation on grief, family, and the power of stories to sustain us.

Longlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize.