The Benefactors

<p><b>AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVEL 2025</b><br>SHORTLISTED FOR NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS<br>LONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE<br><br>'What a joy it is to read'<br><b>Michael Magee, author of <i>Close to Home</i></b><br><br>'I couldn't put this book down'<br><b>Sheena Patel, author of <i>I'm A Fan</i></b><br><br>'Powerful, moving, compelling, utterly enthralling'<br><b>Jon McGregor, author of <i>Reservoir 13</i></b><br><i><br>'</i>A prodigiously talented author: funny and brutal by turns'<br><i><b>Guardian</b></i><br><br>'The style of Woolf but the heart of Dickens'<br><i><b>Sunday Times</b></i><br><br>'Vital reading'<br><i><b>Spectator</b></i><br><br>'I miss it already . . . What a beautiful, hilarious blast of brilliance'<br><b>Donal Ryan, author of <i>Heart, Be at Peace</i></b><br><br>'A cast of characters so vividly drawn it feels like you've known them all your life'<br><b>Colin Walsh, author of<i> Kala</i></b><br><br>Meet Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh: three very different women from Belfast, but all mothers to eighteen-year-old boys.<br><br>Gorgeous Frankie, now married to a wealthy, older man, grew up in care. Miriam has recently lost her beloved husband Kahlil in ambiguous circumstances. Bronagh, the CEO of a children's services charity, loves celebrity and prestige. When their sons are accused of sexually assaulting a friend, Misty Johnston, they'll come together to protect their children, leveraging all the powers they possess. But on her side, Misty has the formidable matriarch, Nan D, and her father, taxi-driver Boogie: an alliance not so easily dismissed.<br><br>Brutal, tender and rigorously intelligent,<i> The Benefactors</i> is a daring, multi-voice presentation of modern-day Northern Ireland. It is also very funny.</p>