Few and Far Between

by Jan Carson

From the award-winning author of The Raptures and The Fire Starters, a stunning, imaginative novel about a community living on a small group of islands. Sometimes a utopia is not all that it seems...

In Few & Far Between, award-winning writer Jan Carson, imagines an alternative version of Northern Ireland’s recent past. A prime minister with a mad plan to create a new county. An archipelago of haunted islands. A community seeking refuge from the Troubles. The perfect place to escape to - or so it appears.

It’s summer 2017 and the last few residents of the Lough Neagh Archipelago are facing imminent eviction. The flood planned to combat a devastating algae outbreak will submerge their homes, forcing them back to the Mainland for the first time in fifty years. How will they cope with modern life? Will the Ark give up its secrets before it sinks? Can they leave the past behind?

Genres: Ireland, Literary Fiction, Irish Literature, Speculative Fiction, Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication April 9, 2026

About the author

Jan Carson is a writer and community arts development officer currently based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She has a BA in English Literature from Queen’s University Belfast and an MLitt. In Theology and Contemporary Culture from St. Andrew’s University, Scotland. Jan has had short stories published in literary journals on both sides of the Atlantic, has had two of her plays produced for the Belfast stage and is a current recipient of the Arts Council NI’s Artist’s Career Enhancement Bursary. Her first novel, “Malcolm Orange Disappears” will be published by Liberties Press, Dublin on June 2nd 2014.

Reviews

[The Speculative Shelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant alternate history and a cracking read. An archipelago of small islands emerges from the depths after a local politician’s gambit to drain the largest lough in Northern Ireland in order to create more habitable space for those seeking sanctuary during the Troubles. The drainage scheme never got off the ground, but Jan Carson explores what might have happened if it had.

There’s such intriguing lore surrounding The Ark, this archipelago of islands. Each island has a unique flavor and distinct inhabitants—some grounded and wholly human, others suspended between worlds, ghostly apparitions caught between life and death. There’s an air of mystery among the residents, especially our sibling protagonists, Marion and Robert-John, who call The Ark home.

Carson paints a vivid picture of the setting and her characters, plumbing the depths of their psyches and the collective traumas that shape them. Marion and Robert-John are suspended in a state of arrested development. They can’t escape their past while they remain on The Ark, yet they can’t leave The Ark because they remain firmly tethered to that past. A rising tide will force their hand.

I had such a wonderful time with this novel. Between the dry humor, the family drama, and the unique island setting, Carson hits all the right notes.

My thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

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[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jan Carson just gets better and better.