Songdogs

(Paperback)

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Description

The debut novel from National Book Award winner and Booker nominee Colum McCann 'Colum McCann conjures a hugely inventive debut' Observer McCann writes equally well about Ireland, America and Mexico, and he links past and present in a finely woven narrative: Songdogs is a vivid, beautifully measured book Sunday Times __________________ Colum McCann's first novel goes back to the years before the Spanish Civil War, following the adventures of a peripatetic Irish photographer from the war-strewn shores of Europe to the exotic plains of Mexico. The story is told in the words of the photographer's only son, a wanderer himself, who uses his father's unreliable memories and the fading remnants of his art to piece together his family history and explain the mystery surrounding his mother - a Mexican beauty brought back by his father to Ireland.

Reviews

Colum McCann conjures a hugely inventive debut * Observer *
McCann writes intense, gripping prose full of sharp and telling details. He can draw a complete psychological portrait from the most minor situations Songdogs is an exciting book, because it vibrates with the energy of a new writer finding his voice * Times Literary Supplement *
A true work of art * Sunday Tribune *
Potent, sometimes astonishing, fuelled by a unique descriptive vision the simplicity and power of the final two pages of Songdogs form one of the most technically and lyrically accomplished conclusions to a novel, debut or otherwise, I have ever read * Sunday Independent *
Songdogs is an event in Irish writing * Irish Independent *
An arresting new voice from out of Ireland, at once deep and dazzling -- Edna OBrien
Powerful ... wistful and gracefully shadowed ... The author has a keen eye and ear; his language is full of sparkling poetry and images * New York Times Book Review *
Positively vibrates ... consistently engaging ... remarkably beautiful * Sunday Globe *
McCann has unusual control over his material ... McCanns take on the New World is fresh and often amusing, but what we remember most is the poignancy * Los Angeles Times Book Review *

Author Bio

Colum McCann is the author of six novels and three collections of stories. His most recent novel Apeirogon was longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. TransAtlantic was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013, and Let the Great World Spin won the National Book Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was a New York Times bestseller. His work has been published in forty languages and has received many international honours, including a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, election to the Irish arts academy and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China and an Oscar nomination. He is the co-founder of the non-profit global story exchange organisation, Narrative 4, and he teaches at the MFA program in Hunter College. He was born in Dublin and lives in New York. colummccann.com