Young skins by Colin Barrett

Winner of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award Winner of the Guardian First Book Award Winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature A stunning introduction to a singular new voice in contemporary fiction. Enter the small, rural town of Glanbeigh – a place whose fate took a downturn with the Celtic Tiger. It’s a desolate spot where buffoonery and tension simmer and erupt, and booze-sodden boredom fills the corners of every pub and nightclub. Here, and in the towns beyond, the young live hard and wear the scars. Among them there’s jilted Jimmy, whose best friend, Tug, is the terror of the town and Jimmy’s sole company in his search for the missing Clancy kid; Bat, a lovesick soul with a face like “a bowl of mashed up spuds” even before Nubbin Tansey’s boot kicked it in; and Arm, a young and desperate criminal whose destiny is shaped when he and his partner, Dympna, fail to carry out a job. In each story a local voice delineates the grittiness of postboom Irish society. These are unforgettable characters rendered through silence, humor, and violence. Told in Barrett’s vibrant, distinctive prose, Young Skins is an accomplished and irreverent debut from a brilliant writer.