Synopses & Reviews
This dazzling anthology, edited and introduced by Dermot Bolger, is a splendidly comprehensive and up-to-the-minute collection of the finest recent fiction from a nation of master storytellers. This collection of astonishing breadth reveals a literature of genuine global stature, as ancient as the Irish Sea.
Contributors and stories include: John Banville, from Mefisto; Leland Bardwell, "The Hairdresser"; Sebastian Barry, from The Engine of Owl-Light; Mary Beckett, "Heaven"; Samuel Beckett, "For to End Yet Again"; Sara Berkeley, "The Sky's Gone Out"; Dermot Bolger, "The Journey Home"; Claire Boylan, "Villa Marta"; Shane Connaughton, "Ojus"; Mary Dorcey, "The Husband"; Roddy Doyle, from The Snapper; Anne Enright, "Men and Angels"; Hugo Hamilton, from Surrogate City; Dermot Healy, "The Death of Matti Bonner"; Aidan Higgins, from Balcony of Europe; Desmond Hogan, from A Curious Street; Jennifer Johnston, from The Christmas Tree; Neil Jordan, "Last Rights"; Molly Kean, Patrick McCabe, from The Butcher Boy; Brian Moore, "The Sight"; Edna O'Brien, "What a Sky"; William Trevor, "The Ballroom of Romance"; Val Mulkerns, "Memory and Desire"; Robert McLiam Wilson, from Ripley Bogle, and many more.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Part One: For to end yet again / Samuel Beckett -- Part Two: The man-keeper / Tom Mac Intyre -- The talking trees / Sean O'Faolain -- from The killeen / Mary Leland -- from A curious street / Desmond Hogan -- from Black list, section H / Francis Stuart -- from The Christmas tree / Jennifer Johnston -- Part Three: High ground / John McGahern -- Postcards / Bridget O'Connor -- A woman's hair / Bryan MacMahon -- from Balcony of Europe / Aidan Higgins -- Happiness / Mary Lavin -- Blood and water / âEilâis Nâi Dhuibhne -- Ojus / Shane Connaughton -- from The butcher boy / Patrick McCabe -- Villa Marta / Clare Boylan -- from Burning your own / Glenn Patterson -- Cancer / Eugene McCabe -- Part Four: The ballroom of romance / William Trevor -- from Good behaviour / Molly Keane -- Last rites / Neil Jordan -- Between two shores / Bernard MacLaverty -- Heaven / Mary Beckett -- Memory and desire / Val Mulkerns -- The husband / Mary Dorcey -- What a sky / Edna O'Brien -- Part Five: from The snapper / Roddy Doyle -- Oranges from Spain / David Park -- If angels had wings / Eoin McNamee -- from Proxopera / Benedict Kiely -- Orange horses / Maeve Kelly -- from The journey home / Dermot Bolger -- from The heather blazing / Colm Tâoibâin -- Mothers were all the same / Joseph O'Connor -- The sky's gone out / Sara Berkeley -- from Ripley bogle / Robert McLiam Wilson -- from Surrogate City / Hugo Hamilton -- A rock-'n'-roll death / Michael O'Loughlin -- from Remembering light and stone / Deirdre Madden -- from The engine of owl-light / Sebastian Barry -- The sight / Brian Moore --Incident on the El Camino Real / Aidan Mathews -- Part Six: Men and angels / Anne Enright -- Counterpoints / Gerardine Meaney -- The hairdresser / Leland Bardwell -- from Mefisto / John Banville -- Part Seven: The death of Matti Bonner / Dermot Healy -- Absent children / John MacKenna -- Divided attention / Mary Morrissy -- Through the field / Colum McCann.