Homesickness by Colin Barrett
Synopsis
From the prize-winning author of Young Skins comes Homesickness- a quietly caustic, startlingly beautiful and wonderfully wry new short story collection.
In these eight stories, Barrett takes us back to the barren backwaters of County Mayo, via Toronto, and illuminates the lives of outcasts, misfits and malcontents with an eye for the abrupt and absurd.
A quiet night in the neighbourhood pub is shattered by the arrival of a sword wielding fugitive.
A funeral party teeters on the edge of this world and the next, as ghosts won't simply lay in wake.
A shooting sees an everyday call-out lead a policewoman to confront the banality of her own existence.
A true follow-up to his electrifying debut collection, Homesickness marks Colin Barrett out as our most brilliantly original and captivating storyteller.
Reviews
'A mesmerisingly powerful book, full of the strangeness and beauty of life' Sally Rooney
'Addictive, stylish and violently funny... An outstanding collection' Kevin Barry
'Something struck me as I read these beautifully crafted, desperately sad, but often very funny stories: there is now a branch of English called the Colin Barrett.' Roddy Doyle
'The stories in Homesickness are crafted with skill and flair. Colin Barrett anchors the work with emotional accuracy and careful delineation of character, and then, using metaphors and beautifully made sentences, he lets his narrative soar.' Colm Tóibín