Patrick McCabe Boeken

The relationship between mother and son is unique, but for 45-year-old Pat McNab, it takes a bizarre turn as he lives with his deceased mother, keeping it a secret. Amidst truly absurd moments, the story reveals a comedic structure.

Dan Fogarty, an Irishman living in England, is looking after his sister Una, now seventy and suffering from dementia in a care home in Margate. From Dan’s anarchic account, we gradually piece together the story of the Fogarty family. How the parents are exiled from a small Irish village and end up living the hard immigrant life in England. How Dots, the mother, becomes a call girl in 1950s Soho. How a young and overweight Una finds herself living in a hippie squat in Kilburn in the early 1970s. How the squat appears to be haunted by vindictive ghosts who eat away at the sanity of all who live there.And, finally, how all that survives now of those sex-and-drug-soaked times are Una’s unspooling memories as she sits outside in the Margate sunshine, and Dan himself, whose role in the story becomes stranger and more sinister.Poguemahone is a wild, free-verse monologue, steeped in music and folklore, crammed with characters, both real and imagined, on a scale Patrick McCabe has never attempted before.

It is 1958, and as Laika, the Sputnik dog is launched into space, Golly Murray, the Cullymore barber's wife, finds herself oddly obsessing about the canine cosmonaut. Meanwhile, Fonsey 'Teddy' O'Neill, is returning, like the prodigal son, from overseas, with brylcream in his hair, and a Cuban-heeled swagger to his step, having experienced his coming-of-age in Butlin's, Skegness. Father Augustus Hand is working on a bold new theatrical production for Easter, which he, for one, knows will put Cullymore on the map. And, as the Manchester United football team prepare to take off from Munich airport, James A. Reilly sits in his hovel by the lake outside town, with his pet fox and his father's gun, feeling the weight of an insidious and inscrutable presence pressing down upon him. With echoes of Peyton Place and Fellini's Amarcord, and with a sinister, diabolical narrator at its heart, this is at once a story of a small town - with its secrets, fears, friendships and betrayals - and a sweeping, grand guignol of theatrical extravagance from one of the finest writers of his generation. From the closed terraces and back lanes of rural Ireland to the information super highway and global separations of our own, The Stray Sod Country is at once a homage to what we think we may have lost and a chilling reminder that the past has never really passed.

With an introduction by Ross RaisinA modern classic of Irish fiction, shortlisted for the 1992 Booker prize.When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs Nugent.Francie Brady is a small-town rascal who spends his days turning a blind eye to the troubles at home and getting up to mischief with his best friend Joe - hiding in the chicken-house, shouting abuse at fish in the local stream. But after a disagreement with his neighbour Mrs Nugent over her son's missing comic books, Francie's reckless streak spirals out of control and gives rise to a monstrous obsession . . .Fearless, shocking and blackly funny, Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy won the 1992 Irish Times Literature Prize and was shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize. It is a modern classic of Irish fiction, a portrait of the insidious violence latent in small town life and of a frenzied young man lashing out at everyone, even himself.

Two Halloween horrors from the Booker-shortlisted hellraiser - two short novels in a special flip-over format.

`The best Irish novel of the decade' Sunday Telegraph

Patrick McCabe's lyrical and haunting novel became a #1 bestseller in Ireland and was nominated for the Booker Prize. With delicate insight, McCabe introduces Mr. Patrick "Pussy" Braden, a hopeful hero(ine) whose survival and quest for love drive the narrative, set against the backdrop of the troubles in Ireland. Twenty years ago, Pussy escaped her hometown of Tyreelin, leaving behind her foster mother Whiskers and her chaotic household to start anew in London. There, she navigates life in blousey tops and satin miniskirts, often risking everything in the bars of Piccadilly Circus. However, the dangers she faces extend beyond the seedy clientele; the 1970s are marked by fear in both London and Belfast, pulling Pussy into a vortex of violence and tragedy that threatens to shatter her fragile spirit. Brilliant and profound, the novel intertwines light and dark, laughter and pain, with a sensitivity that leaves a lasting impact on readers long after the final page.

The intention was, of course, to bring her out to Winterwood - to that magical place that only me and her knew - but I wouldn't tell her that until much later on, for I wanted it to be as much of a surprise as possible. 'Kimono!' I remember laughing 'Kimono and Pinkie Pie! The Magic Castle, here we come!' Winterwood, a place of dreams and mystery. Once, near Dublin, Redmond was in heaven, married to the sugar-lipped Catherine, and father to lovely daughter Immy. But later, much later, Red did something. And it could all never be like that again. Winterwood, a place of escape and sanctuary. Red meets Auld Pappie Ned, a fiddler and teller of tales with honeyed words who seems the authentic spirit of 'the old valley', indeed a fiddler by nature and a man so mesmerising that Red sees himself anew, so new in fact that only a fresh name will now do as he leaves (he hopes) the demons of his past behind, the apparitions. And then one day Red spies Catherine again. And still even this is not quite enough to save his new love Casey from the man who's called Dominic Tiernan.

Seven men wait in Mervyn's Mountain Bar, awaiting the arrival of Tony Begley and his six-inch boning knife, Sweety. Ray 'Ringo' Wade hides above them in the rafters, silent and consumed by shame as Jody, the only friend he's ever known, lies beaten and bound in the outhouse, waiting to meet his maker at the hands of the bar's raucous inhabitants. The reason for this bloody retribution? Ray and Jody went and jacked over the one and only William Walter Monroe - the man who took them in, for better or worse, and single-handedly moulded Glasson County into a place people could be proud of. To a man, they bear the mark of Cain, and the acts of the past are never far from the present. Insulated from the world by his shaky delusion, Ray Wade recounts the tale he has no choice but to live with. A backwoods sinfonia of rough poetry and black comedy about the love we give and the horror we visit upon one other - and ourselves.

Francie Brady returns in this highly anticipated sequel, continuing his tumultuous journey. The narrative delves deeper into his complex psyche, exploring themes of identity, trauma, and the impact of a troubled childhood. As he navigates the challenges of adulthood, readers are treated to a blend of dark humor and poignant moments, showcasing Francie's struggles and growth. This installment promises to captivate fans with its rich character development and gripping storytelling.