A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing tells the story of an unnamed female protagonist living in Ireland with her older brother -  whose childhood brain tumour casts a long shadow over the family -  and her fanatically religious mother. As she grows up and moves away from home, the girl navigates abuse, sexual assault and the stress of her brother’s failing health; as well as the relentless double-standards imposed on her by both her family and wider society.

The book’s experimental writing style proved to be divisive among book club members. It is written in a stream-of-consciousness, disjointed style with no speech marks and sparse punctuation. It is also distinctly Irish in both its dialect and themes, leading some members to feel that they were missing out on important context.