Carn Uk - Softcover

Patrick McCabe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330328085 ISBN 13: 9780330328081

Publisher: Pan Books, 1993

Synopsis

'It seemed as if the town of Carn, a huddled clump of windswept grey buildings split in two by a muddied main street, had somehow been spirited away and supplanted by a thriving, bustling place which bore no resemblance whatever to it. For a split second, she saw her own death, a gunmetal face fixed on the sky, all around the faces and voices of Carn as she had known it. Josie Keenan had come home to the town of Carn, the only home she knew' 'A unique record by somebody who understands that the reality of small-town life is as important in literature as any aspect of Ireland ...a savage, raw and bitter honesty ...I know no Irish writer with such an obvious, extraordinary talent' Dermot Bolger, Sunday Independent 'Powerful, precise writing -- Patrick McCabe's Carn introduces one of the most promising writers in a long, long time' Bill Buford, Granta 'Resolute ...the writing is raw and didactic. His story bears the hideous ring of authenticity' Guardian 'Stylishly narrated, but with the chronological forthrightness that comes as a benison after some modern novels' London Review of Books

About this title

From the Publisher:

Patrick McCabe, whom the San Francisco Chronicle called "one of the most brilliant writers ever to come out of Ireland," presents another compelling novel of small-town Ireland that leaves its indelible mark on the canon of classic fiction. Carn is the story of two women; Josie Keenan, who returns to Carn, Ireland, the provincial hometown she once left behind, and Sadie Rooney, a factory worker who dreams of leaving. As the two women strike up a friendship--fueled by hopes to better their lives, yet inextricably tied to the tenuous fate of Carn--each must confront the hard truths of her past and future. And despite its own attempt to thrive, the town itself cannot escape the daily reminders of Ireland's endless legacy of violence and unrest.

Written in the raw, unsparing prose that marks McCabe's fiction, Carn is the timeless story of a small town struggling to break away from its bleak past, and the lives of two women aching to escape the forces that shaped them.

About the Author:

Patrick McCabe was born in Ireland in 1955. His novels include Music on Clinton Street, Carn, The Butcher Boy, and Breakfast on Pluto. The latter two were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Butcher Boy won the Irish Times/Aer Lingus Literature Prize in 1992 and was made into a film, directed by Neil Jordan, in 1997. The film Breakfast on Pluto, also directed by and co-written with Neil Jordan, was released in 2006 to great acclaim. His play Frank Pig Says Hello was published by Methuen Drama in Far From the Land: New Irish Plays in 1998. Patrick McCabe lives in his home town of Clones, County Monaghan.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pan Books
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0330328085
• ISBN 13: 9780330328081
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256