FINALIST for the WOMENS PRIZE for FICTION* One of Vogues Best Books of the Year

Award-winning author Claire Kilroys lyrical and incisive (The New York Times Book Review) novel that reads with the pace of a thriller and is filled with astute and witty observations of life with a young child.

Soldier Sailor takes readers deep inside the early days of motherhood. Exploring the clash of fierce love with a seismic shift in identity, Claire Kilroy conjures the raw, tumultuous emotions of a new mother, as her marriage strains and she struggles with questions of equality, autonomy, and creativity.

Soldier Sailor is a tale of boundless love and relentless battle, a bedtime story to a son, Sailor, recounting their early years together. Spending her days in baby groups, playgrounds, and supermarkets, Soldier doesnt know who she is anymore. She hardly sees her husband, who has taken to working late most nights. A chance encounter with a former colleague feels like a lifeline to the person she used to be but can hardly remember.

Tender and harrowing, Kilroys modern masterpiece hums with poetry, insight, and humor…full of truths so sharp and beautiful readers will need to take a breath (Booklist, starred review).