Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOT PRIZE 2022 'The energy, the voice, the language, the characters, all real, raw and utterly convincing' Fiona Scarlett, author of Boys Don't Cry 'Wonderful, imaginative, highly original emotional rollercoaster of a story' Peter James I still think'a her every day, several times a day. Aoife knows everyone in Dundalk's underworld. Too well, in some cases. But when she meets Annie, a beautiful whirlwind of a woman, and brings her to the Town, she finds that she doesn't know nearly enough about her. Annie is magnetic and wild and Aoife's desire to learn more quickly becomes a need, and then an obsession - to know this dangerous woman, to love her, to keep her. So when Aoife's friend and collaborator the Rat King asks her to help him dispose of ten kilos of cocaine, swiped from a rival, she brings Annie along for a road trip through a Britain that she only knows as a place to be suspicious of. So when Annie decides she doesn't want to return to Ireland, Aoife makes a decision that changes everything. Gritty and yet tender, tragic and yet hopeful, Iron Annie is a breakneck journey that crackles with energy, warmth and heart, and marks the arrival of a fresh and vibrant new voice in literary fiction. 'Full of wonder, grit, insight, sadness and joy' Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart
Mixing Thelma and Louise and Lisa McInerney's The Glorious Heresies, with a dash of Pulp Fiction, Iron Annie heralds the arrival of a major new Irish writer.
About the Author
Luke Cassidy is a writer from the Irish border town of Dundalk. His debut novel, Iron Annie, was published by Bloomsbury Books in 2021. He has been published in the Irish Times, Le Monde Diplomatique, Literary Hub, and LA Review of Books, amongst others. He has recently contributed a short story to the New Island Books anthology of writing from the Irish border region, The New Frontier, and adapted Iron Annie for the stage, which toured Ireland in late 2021 and will have more dates in Ireland in the UK in Summer 2022.
Reviews
A queer underworld Thelma & Louise with better jokes ... Very funny ... Cassidy keeps tight control of a story that's simultaneously state of the nation, romance and crime. * Sarah Moss, Irish Times *
A DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE YEAR An electrifying debut ... Cassidy excels at combining antic storytelling and vernacular lyricism with piercing observations of parochial Irish life. A blast * Daily Mail *
[A] barnstorming gangland comedy set among a motley band of drug-runners from Dundalk, Ireland, where debut author Luke Cassidy was born ... Cassidy's ingenious use of rhythm and phonetics make Aoife's voice sing from the page ... Iron Annie is a blast - tender and brutal, funny and sad. It also has interesting things to say about hot topics such as gender and Ireland's relationship with post-Brexit Britain. Above all, though, it's a spectacular feat of firecracker prose. Not to be missed ... A full-spectrum thrill from a first-time novelist who looks destined for great things * Metro *
Absolutely brilliant. Fizzes with energy - and with raunchiness, colour, beauty, and insight * Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner *
Written in an exhilarating, lyrical vernacular, in much the way of Anna Burns, Kevin Barry or even Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting ... Aoife is a character redeemed to a large extent by her extraordinary narrative voice, yet Cassidy also summons up an entire small-town world here, one that's both fiercely informed by under-the-radar community bonds and at the mercy of wider seismic political forces. Terrific * Daily Mail *
What an exquisite novel Iron Annie is. The narrative voice fair crackles: it's full of wonder, grit, insight, sadness and joy, and is quite beautiful. And Aoife is one of those fictional characters that arrives only once or twice in an age, sublimely rendered and completely unforgettable. -- Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart and From a Low and Quiet Sea
Iron Annie is absolutely everything I love in a book. The energy, the voice, the language, the characters, all real, raw and utterly convincing. Luke Cassidy is an incredible talent, with an ear for language to rival that of Kevin Barry, I could hear every single word. * Fiona Scarlett, author of Boys Don't Cry *
Wonderful, imaginative, highly original emotional rollercoaster of a story -- Peter James
Iron Annie is a novel full of grit and pearls - its language crackles with life. Luke Cassidy is a writer with a keen eye and a finely-tuned ear -- Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul
Utterly original ... I think this book is like a bolt from the blue for Irish writing -- Niamh Campbell, author of This Happy.
It's apparent from the opening lines of Iron Annie that Luke Cassidy can write. His prose fizzes with energy and music, and the reader is immediately plunged into the anarchic underbelly of Ireland and the lives of Cassidy's vivid characters. -- Graeme Macrae Burnet, author of His Bloody Project
It's wild and fierce and full of awful life. Also dead funny . . . This needs to be slapped on the arse and let out snorting into the world like a mustang horse -- Niall Griffiths, author of Grits, Sheepshagger and Stump
Iron Annie marks the arrival of a fresh and compelling young voice in literary fiction . . . These complex, funny, tender, lewd and lovely characters will grab you by the throat from the first line and dare you to stop reading -- Emily Rapp Black, author of Poster Child, The Still Point of the Turning World, Cartography for Cripples and Sanctuary
Iron Annie is a staggering debut novel. And what makes it so stylish and ferocious isn't the drugs, the brutal violence, or even the wild love and sex - it's the language. I've never read anything like the sentences in here. -- Rachel DeWoskin, author of Banshee, Big Girl Small, and Foreign Babes in Beijing
Brave and fearless ... Put me in the mind of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting ... It snaps and crackles. * Claudia Carroll, Eason Books Club *
Amazing first novel filled with drugs and sex and rock and roll ... It's so dense and rich. I'm dying to see the play. * Keith Walsh, Eason Book Club *
'Fans of Irvine Welsh will find a lot to like here, but Cassidy deserves more than mere comparisons for Aoife's gripping narrative voice and the construction of his own Dundalk-based netherworld. A strong debut' * Hot Press *
Ambitious, utterly original and full of an energy that will linger long * Amanda Geard, author of The Midnight House *
Book Information
ISBN 9781526635983
Author Luke Cassidy
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Bloomsbury Circus
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 448g
Mixing Thelma and Louise and Lisa McInerney's The Glorious Heresies, with a dash of Pulp Fiction, Iron Annie heralds the arrival of a major new Irish writer.
About the Author
Luke Cassidy is a writer from the Irish border town of Dundalk. His debut novel, Iron Annie, was published by Bloomsbury Books in 2021. He has been published in the Irish Times, Le Monde Diplomatique, Literary Hub, and LA Review of Books, amongst others. He has recently contributed a short story to the New Island Books anthology of writing from the Irish border region, The New Frontier, and adapted Iron Annie for the stage, which toured Ireland in late 2021 and will have more dates in Ireland in the UK in Summer 2022.
Reviews
A queer underworld Thelma & Louise with better jokes ... Very funny ... Cassidy keeps tight control of a story that's simultaneously state of the nation, romance and crime. * Sarah Moss, Irish Times *
A DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE YEAR An electrifying debut ... Cassidy excels at combining antic storytelling and vernacular lyricism with piercing observations of parochial Irish life. A blast * Daily Mail *
[A] barnstorming gangland comedy set among a motley band of drug-runners from Dundalk, Ireland, where debut author Luke Cassidy was born ... Cassidy's ingenious use of rhythm and phonetics make Aoife's voice sing from the page ... Iron Annie is a blast - tender and brutal, funny and sad. It also has interesting things to say about hot topics such as gender and Ireland's relationship with post-Brexit Britain. Above all, though, it's a spectacular feat of firecracker prose. Not to be missed ... A full-spectrum thrill from a first-time novelist who looks destined for great things * Metro *
Absolutely brilliant. Fizzes with energy - and with raunchiness, colour, beauty, and insight * Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner *
Written in an exhilarating, lyrical vernacular, in much the way of Anna Burns, Kevin Barry or even Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting ... Aoife is a character redeemed to a large extent by her extraordinary narrative voice, yet Cassidy also summons up an entire small-town world here, one that's both fiercely informed by under-the-radar community bonds and at the mercy of wider seismic political forces. Terrific * Daily Mail *
What an exquisite novel Iron Annie is. The narrative voice fair crackles: it's full of wonder, grit, insight, sadness and joy, and is quite beautiful. And Aoife is one of those fictional characters that arrives only once or twice in an age, sublimely rendered and completely unforgettable. -- Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart and From a Low and Quiet Sea
Iron Annie is absolutely everything I love in a book. The energy, the voice, the language, the characters, all real, raw and utterly convincing. Luke Cassidy is an incredible talent, with an ear for language to rival that of Kevin Barry, I could hear every single word. * Fiona Scarlett, author of Boys Don't Cry *
Wonderful, imaginative, highly original emotional rollercoaster of a story -- Peter James
Iron Annie is a novel full of grit and pearls - its language crackles with life. Luke Cassidy is a writer with a keen eye and a finely-tuned ear -- Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul
Utterly original ... I think this book is like a bolt from the blue for Irish writing -- Niamh Campbell, author of This Happy.
It's apparent from the opening lines of Iron Annie that Luke Cassidy can write. His prose fizzes with energy and music, and the reader is immediately plunged into the anarchic underbelly of Ireland and the lives of Cassidy's vivid characters. -- Graeme Macrae Burnet, author of His Bloody Project
It's wild and fierce and full of awful life. Also dead funny . . . This needs to be slapped on the arse and let out snorting into the world like a mustang horse -- Niall Griffiths, author of Grits, Sheepshagger and Stump
Iron Annie marks the arrival of a fresh and compelling young voice in literary fiction . . . These complex, funny, tender, lewd and lovely characters will grab you by the throat from the first line and dare you to stop reading -- Emily Rapp Black, author of Poster Child, The Still Point of the Turning World, Cartography for Cripples and Sanctuary
Iron Annie is a staggering debut novel. And what makes it so stylish and ferocious isn't the drugs, the brutal violence, or even the wild love and sex - it's the language. I've never read anything like the sentences in here. -- Rachel DeWoskin, author of Banshee, Big Girl Small, and Foreign Babes in Beijing
Brave and fearless ... Put me in the mind of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting ... It snaps and crackles. * Claudia Carroll, Eason Books Club *
Amazing first novel filled with drugs and sex and rock and roll ... It's so dense and rich. I'm dying to see the play. * Keith Walsh, Eason Book Club *
'Fans of Irvine Welsh will find a lot to like here, but Cassidy deserves more than mere comparisons for Aoife's gripping narrative voice and the construction of his own Dundalk-based netherworld. A strong debut' * Hot Press *
Ambitious, utterly original and full of an energy that will linger long * Amanda Geard, author of The Midnight House *
Book Information
ISBN 9781526635983
Author Luke Cassidy
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Bloomsbury Circus
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 448g
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