Dark Lies the Island

About this book

An award-winning collection from the author of City of Bohane which was hailed by Pete Hamill as "full of marvels" (The New York Times Book Review) Short-listed for the Frank OConnor Short Story Award Winner of the Sunday Times Short Story Award One of last years most critically acclaimed books in the UK A Guernica Best Book of the Year A Library Journal "Best Indie Fiction of 2013" Dark Lies the Island is a wickedly funny and hugely original collection of stories about misspent love and crimes gone horribly wrong. In the Sunday Times Short Story Awardwinning "Beer Trip to Llandudno " a pack of middle-aged ale fanatics seeking the perfect pint find more than they bargained for. A pair of sinister old ladies prowl the countryside for a child to make their own. And a poet looking for inner calm buys an ancient inn on the west coast of Ireland but finds instead rancorous locals and catastrophic floodwaters. Kevin Barrys dazzling language razor-sharp ear for the vernacular and keen eye for the tragedies and comedies of daily life invest these tales with a startling vitality. Dark Lies the Island was short-listed for the Frank OConnor International Short Story Award and as one of the most acclaimed collections in Europe in many years it heralds the arrival of a new master of the short story.