Ithaca

Description

Ithaca, the ferociously funny and unbelievably poignant debut novel from Alan McMonagle, combines a fiercely emotional story with crackling prose. This was the summer after all the money disappeared. One minute it was here. The next it had vanished. All of it. Without trace ...Now that all the money had vanished everyone had their eyes and ears ready for all manner of doom. Summer 2009, and eleven-year-old Jason Lowry is preoccupied with thoughts of the Da he has never known. In the meantime, his vodka-swilling, swings-from-the-hip Ma is busy entertaining her latest boyfriend and indulging her fondness for joyriding. Jason escapes to the Swamp: a mysteriously rising pool of fetid water on the outskirts of the town. There, he meets the girl, a being as lost as himself, and with even less regard for reality. Together, they conjure exotic adventures - from ancient Egypt to the search for Ithaca, home of Odysseus. But what begin as innocent flights of fancy soon become forays into hazardous territory; the girl is a dangerous (and very committed) partner in crime.

Promotion info

The darkly comic story of how far a lonely boy will go to find what he's looking for, and how in searching for what we've lost, we risk losing sight of what we have.

Awards

Long-listed for Desmond Elliott Prize 2017.

Reviews

Ithaca more than confirms the promise shown by Alan McMonagle in his first book of short stories, Psychotic Episodes. He possesses a style that is all his own and I found his first novel compelling from start to finish. Read it. -- Patrick McCabe, author of The Butcher Boy Fast and urgent and full of feeling and savage humour and all kinds of tenderness. -- Kevin Barry, author of City of Bohane Strange and wondrous; savage with vision, leaping with wit and moving in ways that are quite impossible to shake off, Alan McMonagle's Ithaca is a stunner. A quest story with the wisdom of an epic and with the whip-smart energy of a brilliantly fresh and audacious new voice. -- Belinda McKeon, author of Solace, winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize Flawless prose and razor dialogue ... Mesmerising, unforgettable. -- Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart It's a stunner. -- Edna O'Brien Splendid ... Sweet yet dark, odd yet true. Full of fierce, elegant, misguided longing, and so finely written that I came to care so much about Jason. -- Sara Baume Right from its remarkable opening sentence, this extraordinary debut had me hooked. A fierce, funny, on-its-own-terms, beautiful, heartbreaker of a novel. -- Joseph O'Connor

Author description

Alan McMonagle has written for radio, published two collections of short stories - both of which were nominated for the Frank O'Connor Award - and contributed stories to many journals in Ireland and North America. He lives in Galway. Ithaca is his first novel.