From Lisa McInerney, hailed by The Irish Times as “arguably the most talented writer at work in Ireland today,” comes The Glorious Heresies, a searing debut novel about life on the fringes of Ireland’s post-crash society. When grandmother Maureen Phelan is surprised in her home by a stranger, she clubs the intruder with a Holy Stone. The consequences of this unplanned murder connect four misfits struggling against their meager circumstances. Ryan is a fifteen-year-old drug dealer desperate not to turn out like his alcoholic father, Tony, whose feud with his next-door neighbor threatens to ruin his family. Georgie is a sex worker who half-heartedly joins a born-again movement to escape her profession and drug habit. And Jimmy Phelan, the most fearsome gangster in the city and Maureen’s estranged son, finds that his mother’s bizarre attempts at redemption threaten his entire organization. Biting and darkly funny, The Glorious Heresies presents an unforgettable vision of a city plagued by poverty and exploitation, where salvation still awaits in the most unexpected places. — New York Time's Book Review's "10 Best Crime Novels" of the year
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“Narrator Shelley Atkinson’s lively delivery is just what’s called for…Atkinson doesn’t miss a moment of McInerny’s irony and dark humor. She handles drug dealers, junkies, and priests with all their individual quirks in place. She’s particularly effective as Maureen condemns the clergy while making a not-so-remorseful confession. Serious and funny, naturalistic and lyrical, McInerney’s novel uncovers many facets of today’s Ireland, from criminals to crazies to clergy, and Atkinson makes it all fun listening.”
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