Holding Her Breath is a debut novel by Eimear Ryan, co-editor of the well-respected Irish literary magazine Banshee. Beth Crowe is a national swimmer who had to drop out of school due to a personal crisis for a couple of years, and is now starting university at Trinity College. She feels a bit awkward in the new environment but she can count on her extrovert roommate Sabie. Beth is also the granddaughter of Benjamin Crowe, a famous poet who died in tragic circumstances before her birth, which puts her in the spotlight in her new academic environment. At the same time, she finds herself drawn toward an (engaged) post-doc lecturer who has a strong interest in Crowe’s poetry. Discussions about his grandfather’s poetry and mysterious death abound and, determined to understand more about him, Beth will delve into some documents in her grandma’s possession to discover family secrets that have long been buried.

This is a very readable, coming of age novel exploring conventionalism in Irish society, what keeps people together, relationships deemed illicit, including LGBTQ themes, pain and healing, and it does so through two different, nicely intertwined plots (illicit love affair and family secrets). Characters and situations are very relatable and though at times they are bit cliched and modelled on romance novels (the sassy roommate, the timid new student with the gorgeous swimmer body, the illicit romance with a good-looking tutor), the novel has  more than that. The unravelling of the family secret was a very interesting interesting part. 

All in all, this is a well-crafted novel and a very accessible book, written in a confident, clear style that makes it a widely ppealing read.