SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023, THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2023 AND WINNER OF THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2023

‘A tragicomic triumph. You won’t read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year’ Guardian

The Barnes family are in trouble. Until recently they ran the biggest business in town, now they’re teetering on the brink of bankruptcy – and that’s just the start of their problems. Dickie and Imelda’s marriage is hanging by a thread; straight-A student Cass is careening off the rails; PJ is hopelessly in debt to the school bully. Meanwhile the ghosts of old mistakes are rising out of the past to meet them, but everyone’s too wrapped up in the present to see the danger looming . . .

‘Generous, immersive, sharp-witted and devastating; the sort of novel that becomes a friend for life’ Financial Times

‘Paul Murray [is] the undisputed reigning champion of epic Irish tragicomedy’ Spectator

‘An instant classic’ Washington Post

‘[An] astute, remorselessly funny novel’ Daily Mirror

‘A wagyu steak of a novel . . . A classic in the mode of The Corrections’ The Times

Read more

“The Seas took me back to how I felt as a kid, when you’re newly falling in love with literature, newly shocked by its capacity to cast a spell…” Maggie Nelson

“[It] blew me away because of the beauty of the language . . . I found myself highlighting about 85% of the book for the language. It is so beautifully written” Jodi Picoult

Moored in a coastal fishing town so far north that the highways only run south, the unnamed narrator of The Seas is a misfit. She’s often the subject of cruel local gossip. Her father, a sailor, walked into the ocean eleven years earlier and never returned, leaving his wife and daughter to keep a forlorn vigil. Surrounded by water and beckoned by the sea, she clings to what her father once told her: that she is a mermaid.

True to myth, she finds herself in hard love with a land-bound man, an Iraq War veteran thirteen years her senior. The mesmerizing, fevered coming-of-age tale that follows will land her in jail. Her otherworldly escape will become the stuff of legend.

With the inventive brilliance and psychological insight that have earned her international acclaim, Samantha Hunt pulls readers into an undertow of impossible love and intoxication, blurring the lines between reality and fairy tale, hope and delusion, sanity and madness.

Read more

‘One of the greats’ – Lucy Caldwell, author of Intimacies
‘Comic brilliance’ – Sinéad Gleeson, author of Constellations
‘Ingenious’ – The Irish Times
‘Daring, funny, heartbreaking’ – Observer

Following the prize-winning Sweet Home, Wendy Erskine’s Belfast is once again illuminated. Meet Drew Lord Haig, called on to sing an obscure hit from his youth at a paramilitary event. Meet Max as he recalls an eventful journey to a Christian film festival. And Mrs Dallesandro who dreams of being a teenager again as she sits in a tanning salon on her wedding anniversary. In these stories, Erskine’s characters’ wishes and hopes often fall short of their grasp. Brilliantly drawn, Dance Move is about the hugeness of life as seen through glimpses of the everyday.

‘A masterpiece’ – David Keenan, author of Monument Maker

‘Wendy Erskine’s debut, Sweet Home, was pitch perfect . . . Dance Move is equally brilliant’ – The Daily Mail

‘Erskine’s stories open slight, but they contain more than it seems possible for short stories to contain’ – Keith Ridgway, author of Hawthorn & Child

‘She isn’t just one of the leading writers of short fiction at work today but one of the leading writers, period.’ – Matt Rowland Hill, author of Original Sins

As Read on BBC Radio 4
Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize
Shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards Short Story of the Year
The Irish Times Books of the Year 2022

Read more

Reader, she married him. But not before a LOT of discussion of his behaviour in the group chat.

With courage, determination and logged into her social media accounts – plain Jane Eyre is ready to take on the world. But then she meets and begins to fall for Edward Rochester, AKA the definition of a red flag, with screenshots to prove it.

When authors Claire McGowan and Sarah Day imagined how ‘Pride and Prejudice on Social Media’ might look, retelling the story through mocked-up social media posts, their post instantly went viral. Now, they return with a Bronte classic told through highs and lows of social media . . .

Perfect for fans of Charlotte Brontë . . .

***READERS LOVE JANE EYRE ON SOCIAL MEDIA***

‘This is a fun text with a witty comedic spin and definitely one to put on your TBR pile’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘If you read nothing else this year, read this! It’s honestly the best read of the year. Not only is it a clever idea for a retelling, it’s charming, witty and downright hilarious!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘It all did make me laugh. Lots!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Really well done and difficult to put down. I see the authors have done the same thing with Pride and Prejudice and I am definitely adding that to my TBR’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘What a funny and quirky book!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘This clever retelling combines charm, wit, and humour to create an engaging and hilarious narrative’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A lot of fun and a good way to make modern a classic’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read more