A Beautiful Loan

A Novel

De: Mary Costello

Narrado por: Caitríona Ní Mhurchú

My name is Anna, and for some time now, I have been trying to account for certain events in my life—my adult life, that is—which, from this vantage point of forty-five years, I often find baffling. . .

In 1985 Dublin, nineteen-year-old Anna Hughes is in thrall to Peter Gallagher, an older, worldly man. Introverted and naive, Anna is captivated by Peter’s experience, his wide circle of friends and his thirst for adventure. Her obsessive longing for him leads to marriage and, eventually, a crushing betrayal.

When Anna meets a kindhearted Algerian man, she finds herself falling in love with him. Life with Karim offers stability and renewed hope and, slowly, Anna begins to uncover deeper layers of herself.

Unfolding over twenty-five years, this is a audiobook about the loss of innocence, the shame and humiliations of love, and the psychological cost of seeking salvation in others. A Beautiful Loan is a devastating story about what it means to be a woman, as well as a testament to literature’s ability to give us a language when we’re lost for words.

©2026 Mary Costello (P)2026 Canongate Books, Limited

Softer understanding of Islam

As a Muslim American, I appreciated Costello’s nuanced interpretation of Islam. That is not why I read the book in the first place. It was to appreciate the depth of the atypical middle-aged protagonist.