Close to Home

By Michael Magee,

Book cover of Close to Home

Book description

WINNER OF THE ROONEY PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2023
WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION 2023
WINNER OF THE JOHN MCGAHERN PRIZE 2024
WATERSTONES IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

Sean is back. Back in Belfast and back into old habits. Back on the mad all-nighters, the borrowed…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Close to Home as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Michael Magee’s novel is a cracking exploration of life in contemporary Belfast. The examination of a young man’s quest to find some direction and economic stability whilst working in precarious employment had me hooked from the outset. His attempts to deal with the fall-out from a casual act of violence and his romantic/friendship dilemmas seemed to sum up well the struggles many faced in their early 20s, between university and their ‘future’ (alas, a distant memory for me now). 

So far, so rite of passage-y. But what I think makes the book an informative read on Northern Ireland and its…

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Secrets, misunderstandings, and a plethora of family conflicts abound in this historical novel set along the Brazos River in antebellum Washington County, East Texas.

It is a compelling story of two neighboring plantation families and a few of the enslaved people who serve them. These two plantations are a microcosm…

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