Written in the form of a 19th-century notebook of ornithological observations, Field Notes from an Extinction follows the life and work of one Ignatius Green, a fictitious English scientist dispatched by the Royal Society to the remote island of Tor Mor off the northern Irish coast. Green, a widower, is single-minded and self-righteous, brilliant and bumbling. He is determined to set the scientific record straight on the mating rituals, feeding and care of hatchlings, and other minutiae he can gather about the Great Auk (pinguinus impennis).

Green’s world is shattered when his monthly goods delivery arrives ravaged by the local Irish townsmen. His fury at the irimpertinence is matched only by his dismay at finding a small child amid the shipment – dirty, abandoned, mute, and utterly feral and unmanageable. Worse, the locals are growing restless and hungry. And there is talk sweeping the land of a terrifying woman with unnatural power.

Green fights for his survival against brigandsand hunger and, most fearsome, the resolve of a fierce and angry child. And, perhaps, for a wider understanding of family amidst roiling societal unrest.

"This is a novel concerned more with the atmosphere of its setting than with narrative verisimilitude—it owes more to Jonathan Swift than Emile Zola—and in this Walls succeeds admirably, describing a vividly realized world, impeccably rendered in the vocabulary of the day... Toward the end of the novel, our mismatched duo find themselves on a sort of odyssey across a mainland Ireland ravaged by famine. It is here, rather than on the isolated outpost of Tor Mor, that societal norms have broken down, and Walls masterfully portrays a hellscape of emaciated horses and vagabonds .... The scene bears comparison with the apocalyptic dystopia of Cormac McCarthy's The Road... A unique and richly imagined novel."—Graeme Macrae Burnet (Booker finalist), New York Times Book Review

"Vividly told, original in form, ambitious in scope and completely winning in its characterisation of the unlikely pair at its centre […] a stark and compelling tale. Eoghan Walls has immaculate comic timing and the heart of a tragedian who knows how to bide his time – and land his gut-punches."—Lucy Caldwell, winner of the BBC Short Story Prize and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature

"A compelling and convincing story of survival and apocalypse.”—Nial Hegarty, The Irish Times

"Readers will find much to admire, including a third-act twist. This blistering historical is worth a look."—Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Gospel of Orla

“Walls’s marvellous novel asks what we might look for by way of consolation. A miracle shouldn’t be too much to ask.”—Claire Luchette, The New York Times Book Review

“By turnsfunny, surprising, moving. With a poet’s control and playfulness, it paints a convincing portrait of a teenagers grief and resilience."—Niamh Donnelly, The Irish Times

 "Utterly convincing and fresh and original."— Colm Tóibín