As a doctoral student at Trinity College Dublin, Darren Walton is trying to decode an elaborate conspiracy he stumbled across as an undergraduate. To do so he must locate an alternate Ireland named Camland, the existence of which is proven when he discovers a literary journal whose contents mirror his own past. With proof of his wild theories, Darren is sure academic fame is imminent. But for this he is willing to sacrifice not just his sanity and physical safety, but also his relationships with the ones who love him most.
In breathless prose, Declan Toohey weaves a contemporary yarn of academic intrigue and youthful irreverence, sexual fluidity and neurodiversity. Experimental, trippy, hilarious, compassionate, Perpetual Comedown is a riotous reckoning in the construction of the self.

About the Author

Declan Toohey was born in Scotland and grew up in County Kildare. His fiction has been published in Soft Punk, Channel, and the anthology Queer Love, among other outlets. In 2021 he was a co-winner of the IWC Novel Fair, and in 2022 he won the Maeve Binchy Travel Award and received an Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland. More recently, he graduated from University College Dublin with an MFA in Fiction.

Reviews

'A novel so unique, so zany it is unlike anything I have read before ... It is bold. It is bonkers. It is brilliantly clever. It is also blackly funny - the prose skips along with irreverent glee, laced with puns and put-downs and perfect observations ... Where the novel really shines, however, is in its - somewhat surprising - emotional core [...] at its heart Perpetual Comedown is a story about a wayward son's unwavering love for his mother; about a young man's desire to make his family proud, even after he has chosen to pursue a path they don't quite understand, no matter the toll it takes on him or his mental health.'

-- Ruth Gilligan * Irish Independent *

'Toohey plays with style and form throughout, never letting an impossibly convoluted situation get in the way of great character development ... a difficult novel to describe, Perpetual Comedown must be read to be believed ... It's impossible to know if Perpetual Comedown documents Darren's unravelling or the creation of his true identity. Either way, this experimental, thought-provoking and creative novel is probably the strangest thing you'll read this year - in the best possible way.'

-- Andrea Cleary * Sunday Business Post *

'Perpetual Comedown is a college daze of highs, lows, and humanities in-jokes ... Toohey writes with energy and wit and undoubtedly the novel has benefited from his mentor. Toohey has worked with Anne Enright, so there are no flies on him.'

-- Josephine Fenton * Irish Examiner *

'Toohey's explosive prose transports the reader into Darren's complex, hallucinatory world ... reveals a profound, moving insight into mental illness.'

-- Aisling Arundel * Totally Dublin *

It is the wont of the fledgling writer to blow open convention and in Perpetual Comedown we get the sense of a young writer at play ... What's the maddest thing that could happen next, we wonder, and then something madder happens.

-- Niamh Donnelly * The Irish Times *

'The sharp satire of this stunning debut gives an authentic voice to university life in Ireland ... Bizarre, bleak, and as blackly comic as I've come across, Maynooth alumnus Declan Toohey's first novel tracks the mental breakdown of an English student as he strives for just one unique academic thought. A whole new interpretation of dark academia ... it's the novel's emotional core that gives it resonance - the human element, the desire to be loved and to make people proud, is what stays with you.'

-- Eabha Puirseil * Silverhand Journal *

'From its opening, with narrator Darren Walton entering a woodland hovel, Declan Toohey's debut throws us into an unstable reality with only the witty and wholly unreliable voice of its protagonist to guide us. To untether the reader from the known world and to leave us, from beginning to end, unclear as to what is and isn't real is courageous. But, in Toohey's case, it's courage born of rightful confidence in the strength of his writing ...

It's not a bleak treatise on mental illness or drug taking. It's a funny and clever, touching and wild exploration of one particular mind. It poses interesting questions about possible realities, parallel lives, times and stories.

In the middle, Darren finds time for an examination of narrative. Is a story without ending even possible? We are left with an impression of how fine the lines are between genius and insanity, between a mind that is truly free and a mind that is on fire. Be prepared, this book requires energy. But once you're ready, it's an invigorating and challenging ride.'

-- Estelle Birdy * Sunday Independent *


Awards
Joint winner of Co-Winner at the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2021 (Ireland).



Book Information
ISBN 9781848408487
Author Declan Toohey
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint New Island Books
Publisher New Island Books
Weight(grams) 332g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 153mm * 18mm