That Old Country Music

(Paperback, Main)

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'One of the best collections you'll read this year' Sunday Times
'Wild, witty stories . . . Exhilarating' Observer

In this rapturous story collection we encounter a ragbag of west of Ireland characters, many on the cusp between love and catastrophe, heartbreak and epiphany, resignation and hope. These stories affirm Kevin Barry as one of the world's most accomplished and gifted writers, and show an Ireland in a condition of great flux but also as a place where older rhythms, and an older magic, somehow persist.

Reviews

'The master short story teller turns messy emotions into riveting tales of wounded Irish folk . . . One of the best collections you'll read this year' - Sunday Times

'Wild, witty stories . . . The west of Ireland teems with canny characters and vivid language . . . Darkly glimmering . . . Their language is exhilarating, its verve evoking the very best of Barry's compatriots while further carving out a territory that's all his own' - Observer

'These are brilliant and vivid and uproarious stories. It's a rare writer who can call a tune like Kevin Barry' - LISA McINERNEY

'Barry often writes with sonorous wisdom . . . but as readers of his grimly hilarious novels will know, his language is just as precise when it is in the service of comedy . . . Exhilaratingly funny and poignant fables' - Jake Kerridge

'These playful, serious and beautifully crafted stories allow Barry to experiment as we need great writers to do' - SARAH MOSS

Author Bio

Kevin Barry is the author of three novels and two other short story collections. His awards include the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and the Lannan Foundation Literary Award. His stories and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, Granta and elsewhere. He also works as a playwright and screenwriter, and he lives in County Sligo, Ireland. His latest novel, Night Boat to Tangier, was an Irish number one bestseller, was longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.