You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here: Winner of the Beryl Bainbridge First Time Author Award

'This atmospheric debut looks like a rural Irish coming-of-age novel, but it’s cleverer, darker, more unreliable.' Daily Mail

AN IRISH INDEPENDENT BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

AN IRISH INDEPENDENT CRITICS CHOICE FOR CHRISTMAS

WINNER OF THE BERYL BAINBRIDGE BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD, 2020/2021

AN IRISH TIMES, IRISH INDEPENDENT and SUNDAY INDEPENDENT 'TITLE TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2020'

Katie, Maeve and Evelyn have been friends forever. Outspoken, unpredictable and intoxicating, Evelyn is the undisputed leader of the trio. But Katie’s dream of escaping their tiny rural town for a new life in Dublin confronts her with a choice: to hold onto a friendship that has made her who she is, or risk leaving her best friend behind.

Told from Katie’s witty, quirky perspective and filled with unforgettable characters, this moving, immersive and very funny study of sisterhood takes a keen-eyed look at the delights and complexities of female friendship, the corrosive power of jealousy and guilt, and the people and places that shape us. Compellingly readable and effortlessly sharp, fizzing with the voices of rural Ireland, this is an unmissable novel from a dazzling new talent.

Frances Macken is from Claremorris, Co. Mayo. She completed a BA in Film and Television Production at the National Film School, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford and is the author of several short stories. You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here is her debut work of literary fiction.