The new Picador book of contemporary Irish fiction - Dermot Bolger

'Here, at last, is a book which I can put into the hands of naive Americans knowing that after five hundred-odd pages they will understand that on the island of Ireland there live both men and women, heterosexuals and homosexuals, Catholics and Protestants, Nationalists and Unionists, Communists and Fascists, people who believe they are Irish and people who believe they are British . . . That is the message of this marvellous collection' Carlo Gebler, Daily Telegraph

'Like all the best anthologies this is not just a selection but a cumulative argument on behalf of a cause . . . Bolger is the ideal editor . . . angry and authoritative, dragging Beckett into the company of twenty-year-old disciples . . . and generally unshackling his contemporaries (and us readers) from misplaced expectations' Observer

'Dermot Bolger has produced . . . by far the most wide-ranging, readable and definitive introduction yet to the riches of new Irish writing' Ciaran Carty, Sunday Tribune

'By far the most wide-ranging, definitive introduction to the riches of Irish writing' Ciaran Carty

'Bolger shows impeccable taste . . . This is a shiny modern European literature, as relevant as anything currently being written in the English language, and Bolger's collection is a necessary confirmation of its vibrancy' Nick Hornby, Sunday Times