Author Description

A lonely undergraduate unravels when she reads her flatmate's diary; three backpackers start going 'troppo' in the wastes of the Australian Outback; an alcoholic doctor threatens to destroy all the household furniture after the death of his father. These are just some of the characters in Ian Patterson's penetrating new collection of stories centred about the West of Ireland and its complex diaspora. Old hatreds are revealed in a twenty-first century melting pot, a veterinary assistant decides that true independence takes a heartless act, and friendships are made and broken as a gang of boys go looking for trouble on a summer's afternoon. This comic, poignant, and sometimes startling collection is a fresh contribution to the rich tradition of the Irish Short Story.