The Amusements
$24.99
- Paperback
240 pages
- Release Date
15 March 2023
Summary
The rich, resonant and intricate debut novel from an award-winning short story writer.
In the seaside town of Tramore, County Waterford, visitors arrive in waves with the tourist season, reliving the best days of their childhoods in its caravan parks, chippers and amusement arcades.
Local teenager Helen Grant is indifferent to the charm of her surroundings; she dreams of escaping to art college with her glamorous classmate Stella Swaine and, from there, taking on the world. Bu…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780241994948 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0241994942 |
| Author: | Aingeala Flannery |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Imprint: | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 240 |
| Release Date: | 15 March 2023 |
| Weight: | 172g |
| Dimensions: | 15mm x 129mm x 197mm |
Critics Review
The writing, so true to small-town life, is both shrewd and enlarging. Flannery writes like a grown-up; her flawed, hopeful characters live and grow on the page
If you like dark humour, superbly drawn characters, caravan parks, fish suppers and slot machines, The Amusements is what you’ve been waiting for – Jan Carson
Brilliant. Dramatic, heartfelt, sometimes shocking and sad – Sue Leonard * Irish Examiner *
Unputdownable … one of the best novels of the year – Estelle Birdy * Sunday Independent *
The writing, so true to small-town life, is both shrewd and enlarging. Flannery writes like a grown-up; her flawed, hopeful characters live and grow on the page – Anne Enright
Its effortless evocations of the tides and pulls of small-town life are note perfect … It’s often very funny, sometimes sad, always authentic and perceptive, and hugely entertaining. Beautiful – Donal Ryan
A cracker of a book. Think Kevin Barry crossed with Elizabeth Strout. The writing is that good – Kathleen Mac Machon
[The setting of] Tramore is not only a character - it is the main character of The Amusements, with its quotidian dramas and failed epiphanies and the magnetic pull it has over everyone who encounters it, from those on a family holiday, to those who are born, bred and die there. It was a joy to read – Louise Nealon
A fascinating portrait of small-town life. A joy to read * Sunday Independent *
A fresh, funny, fiercely Irish novel about the vagaries of friendship, and Aingeala Flannery - wholly in charge of her lovable, eccentric cast - writes like a dream – Nuala O’Connor
A vibrant, evocative debut that brings the exploits of an Irish coastal town brilliantly to life – Sarah Gilmartin
Aingeala Flannery
Aingeala Flannery is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster. She has completed an MFA in Creative Writing at University College Dublin. Her short story ‘Visiting Hours’ was the winner of the 2019 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition. In 2020 and 2021, she was awarded a Literature Bursary by the Arts Council of Ireland. Her work has appeared in The Bath Anthology and has been broadcast on RT Radio One as part of the Francis MacManus Short Story Competition. She lives in Dublin. The Amusements, her first book, is shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award in association with Listowel Writers’ Week.
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