Sara Baume Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Sara Baume is a literary fiction Irish author born in Lancashire, United Kingdom. At 4, Baume’s parents moved to County Cork, Ireland. She attended Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design where she studied fine art at and completed her MPhil in creative writing at Trinity College in Dublin. Some of Baume’s short stories have been published in the Stinging Fly, the Moth, and the Irish Independent. Her books are published by Tramp Press and Heinemann in Ireland and British, respectively.

In 2015, Sara Baume published a life-altering and highly encouraged tale about a man and his dog in her first book, Spill Simmer Falter Wither, which kicks off as an unusual relationship between an old loner and a dog set in an almost isolated area in the Irish Midlands.

Every person deserves a book that will not only help them escape somewhere exotic or peaceful but also something that can empower them with the meaning and the importance of life. This book fulfills such criteria and is highly recommended for every human soul.

Sarah Baume introduces a 57-year-old man living alone in a rural coastal village. He adopts a traumatized dog named One Eye from a local animal shelter. The man is surprisingly described as too old to start over and too young to give up. He is both dysfunctional and socially anxious, visiting the town once a week to buy some groceries. A loner, he confines himself to an unkempt house that belonged to his dead father. As a result of attacking a badger, the dog has a gaudy scar on its face, where the left eye used to be. What the dog and the old man share in common is the fear they carry in their beleaguered lives.
Baume illuminates the darkness in Ray’s inner world and the profound unhappiness that has defined his existence since boyhood through the use of beautiful writing. The narrative is told in the second person, with Ray conversing with his dog. The talk is frequently both delicate and upsetting.

As if reflecting the shift in seasons from spring, when the narrative began, to winter, when it concluded, the history of Ray’s life with his father grows darker and more ominous. Unfortunate events on the beach lead him and One Eye to leave the shelter of their house, making his life more difficult.

This composition shines due to the author’s profound sympathy for the guy and the dog, who doesn’t belong anywhere. However, this is a challenging book to read. Ray’s description of the ocean, vegetation, insects, and animals to his blind dog is beautiful. However, writing that focuses on conveying a strong sense of location and time, mainly when done successfully, paradoxically requires the reader’s patience and attentiveness. It can become tedious if there is a little storyline. But what is most problematic is that the darkness persists and

The author portrays the protagonist as a social pariah who walks limping and has a mental illness, living in his dad’s house away from the intrusive gaze of his judgemental neighbors. In contrast to his appearance, Ray is a very kind man who enjoys reading and reflecting about his deceased mother and his upbringing. And then, when One Eye comes into his life, it appears that his fortunes improve, as he seems somewhat contented when driving to the beach, where he exercises & walks his dog. Eventually, this deep link of trust becomes inseparable as the narrator tells the entire narrative as if speaking to his pet dog. However, the audience will feel the warmth and readily empathize with these two lone souls attempting to cling to one another through thick and thin.

The author depicts the bond between the dog and the protagonist as genuinely unique and indestructible via emotion, love, and trust.

The narrative is distinctive and shines out among a sea of literary books. It also has a great deal of local dialect, so readers can immediately detect the Irish charm and flare in the dialogues.
Spill Simmer Falter Wither is maybe not for everyone, even animal lovers. It is fantastic and wonderfully written for the first attempt. It is preferable to read it while your heart is solid and light.
Two years after publishing her debut novel, Sara Baume published a Line Made by Walking, a perfect narrative for lost people. It is a story for those whose dreams of life have been dashed about coming to terms with the reality of being average. This is a self-help manual as it does not offer easy answers but it’s a book that might help anyone in a similar situation.

We are introduced to 25-year-old Frankie, a student living in an old Dublin bedsit. Her life isn’t going as planned, and often she finds herself lying on a musty carpet, crying her eyes out.
Her anxious mother whisks her to the countryside after she abandons her studies and part-time work at a gallery. A physician diagnoses her with a “happiness deficiency” and recommends antidepressants. Instead, she moves into her deceased grandmother’s dilapidated cottage. She begins communicating with nature while trying to make sense of her wretched existence surrounded by dusty childhood mementos.

Frankie attempts to comprehend the source of her sadness. She feels rudderless. Life has not unfolded as she had hoped. The more she is unable to engage with society, the further she retreats to her bubble of solitude. It is an endless cycle of misery and remorse.

Frankie sticks to her one true love, painting, to live. She photographs and compiles as a project all the lifeless animals she sees on her country walks. She loves challenging her art knowledge, and sixty of these asides are interwoven throughout the narrative. They are inspired by anything she observes or experiences as she moves about her day: pieces on deprivation, parenthood, and disorientation. Her perceptions of these endeavors reveal more about her mental condition than any mental evaluation she undergoes. Art is all she’s ever known; it’s how she makes sense of her surroundings.

In interviews, Sara Baume stated that this narrative is somewhat autobiographical. After years of suffering as an artist in Dublin, she, like Frankie, returned home to be with her grandmother. She had a deep despondency about failing to succeed in her chosen profession. She alleviated her stress by immersing herself in her gorgeous surroundings and finding delight in the small things, such as wildflowers and rescue pets.

This isn’t a plot-driven story; instead, it is an investigation of the delicate psyche of Frankie, whose existential crisis prompts her to escape her Dublin bedsit, first to retreat to the “famine hospital.”