Homesickness

(Paperback)

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Description

The 'mesmerisingly powerful' (Sally Rooney) second book from the author of critical smash Young Skins, winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.

A quiet night in the neighbourhood pub is shattered by the arrival of a sword-wielding fugitive. A funeral party teeters on the edge of this world and the next, as ghosts won't settle. A shooting sees an everyday call-out lead a policewoman to confront the banality of her own existence. In eight stories, Colin Barrett takes us to the barren backwaters of County Mayo, via Canada, and - with an eye for the abrupt and absurd - illuminates the lives of outcasts, misfits and malcontents.

'One of the best story writers in the English language today' Financial Times

'Superb... There is so much life in these pages' DOUGLAS STUART

'Fierce, tender...unforgettable' BRANDON TAYLOR

'Addictive, stylish and violently funny... Outstanding' KEVIN BARRY

Reviews

A mesmerisingly powerful book, full of the strangeness and beauty of life. I've learned so much from Colin Barrett's work as a reader and writer...these stories are his best yet -- Sally Rooney
Full of humour and small-town Irish colour... His [Barrett's] second collection confirms him as one of the very best short-story writers in the business * New Statesman, *Books of the Year* *
A masterwork - by turns hilarious and heartbreaking... What fierce, tender stories. Totally unforgettable -- Brandon Taylor
The stories in Homesickness are crafted with skill and flair. Colin Barrett anchors the work with emotional accuracy and careful delineation of character, and then, using metaphors and beautifully made sentences, he lets his narrative soar -- Colm Toibin
Lyrical and tough and smart... His stories are set in a familiar emotional landscape, but they give us endings that are new -- Anne Enright

Author Bio

Colin Barrett was born in 1982 and grew up in County Mayo. His stories have been published in The Stinging Fly, Granta, Harper's and the New Yorker. His first book, the short story collection Young Skins, won the 2014 Guardian First Book Award, the 2014 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the 2014 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. In 2018 Barrett was selected as the Rolex Arts Initiative protege in Literature. His debut novel is forthcoming from Jonathan Cape.