The second book from the "exact and poetic" (New York Times) author of
critical smash Young Skins, winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish
Literature and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35, Homesickness is
an emotionally resonant and wonderfully wry collection that follows the
lives of outcasts, misfits, and malcontents from County Mayo to Canada.
When Colin Barrett's debut Young Skins published, it swept up several
major literary awards, and, in both its linguistic originality and
sharply drawn portraits of working-class Ireland, earned Barrett
comparisons to Faulkner, Hardy, and Musil. Now, in a blistering follow
up collection, Barrett brings together eight character-driven stories,
each showcasing his inimitably observant eye and darkly funny style.
A quiet night in a local 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 simply won't lay in wake; a shooting sees a veteran
policewoman confront the banality of her own existence; and an aspiring
writer grapples with his father's cancer diagnosis and in his despair
wreaks havoc on his mentor's life.
The second piece of fiction from a "lyrical and tough and smart" (Anne
Enright) voice in contemporary Irish literature, Homesickness marks
Colin Barrett out as our most brilliantly original and captivating
storyteller.
