Dark Lies the Island
<p><b>An award-winning collection from the author of <i>City of Bohane</i>, which was hailed by Pete Hamill as "full of marvels" (<i>The New York Times Book Review</i>)</b></p><p><i><b>* </b>Short-listed for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award * Winner of the Sunday Times Short Story Award * One of last year's most critically acclaimed books in the UK * A </i>Guernica <i>Best Book of the Year * A </i>Library Journal <i>"Best Indie Fiction of 2013" </i>*</p><p><i>Dark Lies the Island</i> is a wickedly funny and hugely original collection of stories about misspent love and crimes gone horribly wrong. In the Sunday Times Short Story Award–winning "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.<br> Kevin Barry's 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. <i>Dark Lies the Island</i> was short-listed for the Frank O'Connor 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.</p>