Pure Gold
By (Author) John Patrick McHugh
HarperCollins Publishers
Fourth Estate Ltd
14th March 2023
12th May 2022
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Narrative theme: Coming of age
Short stories
823.92
Paperback
256
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 16mm
180g
One of the most exciting writers working in Ireland today SALLY ROONEY, author of Normal People
Terrific RODDY DOYLE, author of Love
Truly brilliant MEGAN NOLAN, author of Acts of Desperation
On an island off Irelands west coast strange things are afoot: two teenage boys set fires while their worlds fall apart, a couple drive out to the hills in a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, a widow seeks a strangers help to bury her grief and a horse crashes a house party. Adrift in the treacherous waters of small-town boredom, the residents reach out with love and cruelty, desperation and hope, in their pursuit of connection.
Pure Gold is a bitterly funny, surprising and profoundly moving short story collection that crackles with the thrilling energy of a bold new literary voice, John Patrick McHugh.
Full of stylish brio Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins
Hilarious, shocking, and disturbingly well-observed Vanity Fair
Searing John Patrick McHugh joins an illustrious generation of talented writers Irish Times
Savagely funny Nicole Flattery, author of Show Them a Good Time
Refreshing and ambitious Lisa McInerney, author of The Blood Miracles
This astonishing collection of stories draws the reader into a world at once familiar and deliciously strange John Patrick McHugh is one of the most exciting writers working in Ireland today Sally Rooney, author of Normal People
A remarkable, rare and truly brilliant collection Megan Nolan, author of Acts of Desperation
Ireland produces writers the way some countries produce footballers, and the latest is John Patrick McHugh Sunday Times
This is a terrific collection. The stories are dark, funny, honest and engrossing Roddy Doyle, author of Love
Refreshing and ambitious stories full of heart and balls and mischief Lisa McInerney, author of The Blood Miracles
McHughs stories are full of stylish brio, headlong with energy, and pulse with real feeling and depth. He is a young writer forging a fresh and intense new path through the landscape of Irish letters Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins
McHugh writes very tenderly about people, and very vibrantly about place. Pure Gold describes the dull lives of a splendid island, in prose that is always splendid and never dull Sara Baume, author of A Line Made By Walking
Sharp, savage, feral stories. Pure Gold is utterly engrossing and unafraid. From the broken world of masculinity and prejudice, John Patrick McHugh has wrought a precious, beautiful alchemy Sean Hewitt, author of Tongues of Fire
Emotionally intelligent and savagely funny Pure Gold is a striking literary debut Nicole Flattery, author of Show Them A Good Time
John Patrick McHugh is a wildly ambitious craftsman, and such a thrilling writer of sentences Danny Denton, author of The Earlie King & the Kid in Yellow
John Patrick McHugh is from Galway. His work has appeared in Banshee, Granta, Stinging Fly, Tangerine and Winter Papers. Pure Gold is his debut collection.