Most years I love the winner of the Bailey’s. Not the drinking competition, I mean the novel that wins the literary prize. And not the author; I’ve never met any of the authors.
Sometimes, I fantasize that something I’ve written wins the Baileys. For me, it’s just a fantasy, but for Lisa McInerney, the fantasy came true, this year, with her book The Glorious Heresies . I finished reading it a week ago and its presence has stayed with me ever since.
The story centres on the tough lives of people who live in a downtrodden district of Ireland, and is told through the ever changing eyes of, maybe even more than, a handful of characters. Sometimes in first person. Sometimes in third. The changes come quickly, but that didn't seem to bother me; the writing grabbed me by the throat, and still hasn't, entirely, let go.
I’m not going to write a synopsis of who these people are and what happens to them, only say that the one that I was most drawn in by was Maureen. The way she was executed by the author, bloody hell.
Honestly, if you like sonorous and fluid writing, I can’t recommend this book enough. And if you read it, let me know what you think?
