Stay follows Abbey, a young woman from Canada now living in a village outside Galway. She falls in love with Dermot, an older Irish man, in an unconventional, affectionate but troubled relationship.
The extraordinary skill of Stay lies in its unsentimental depiction of modern Ireland. The inhabitants of Dermot's village form a riotous and poignant chorus, commenting on their rapidly changing world with wit and insight. Here is a beautiful, funny and richly rewarding novel about history and obligation, and above all, the meaning of human connection in a land poised uneasily between past and present.

Aislinn Hunter is the author of two books of poetry Into the Early Hours and The Possible Past, a short story collection What’s Left Us, and a novel Stay, all of which won national awards including the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, the Pat Lowther Award, The ReLit Prize, the Gerald Lampert Award, The Danuta Gleed Award and a nomination for the Journey Prize.She teaches creative writing part-time at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and divides her time between Canada and the UK where she is finishing a Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh.

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• "For all the complexity in Hunter's book . . . there is also a minute attention to detail and an elegance in the natural dialogue. Hunter heaps ideas on you, ideas you want to stop and think about, in such a subtle, tender way that you never feel assaulted, but rather protected." --The Globe and Mail
• "Hunter has created a redolent, peat-reeking sense of Ireland, mournful but sometimes blackly hilarious. . . . The smell of life is what makes Stay so compelling." --Vancouver Sun