PetrolPaperback, 12 September 2012

Imelda thinks she's killed her mother by wishing she was dead. Haunted, she doesn't want to wish the same fate on Justin, her mercurial and controlling twice-widowed father, owner of McConnell's bar and shop. When Imelda's two older sisters, Bertha and Agnes disapprove of Justin's young fiancé, Clodagh, Justin butters up naïve Imelda and elevates her to the position of temporary favourite. Nobody including Imelda herself can believe her luck will last when it is clear that Agnes is his true favourite. Besides, Justin can't stand Imelda's admirer, Danny Boy, her sisters are jealous and Neily Sheehan, the owner of the rival John Fitzgerald Kennedy Bar, is only waiting for his chance to bring Justin down. Petrol is a prose poem disguised as a novella of adolescence in Co. Cork, Ireland. With its dizzy pace and perfect narrative timing it is a unique work and a remarkable departure for a writer whose poetry is widely appreciated for its humour and uncompromising depiction of rural Ireland.