The Benefactors 'So fresh, so sharp, so wry, so alive' Lucy Caldwell

<p><b>AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVEL 2025</b><br><b>SHORTLISTED FOR NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS<br>LONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE</b><br><br><b>'What a joy it is to read'</b><br>Michael Magee, author of <i>Close to Home</i><br><br><b>'I couldn't put this book down'</b><br>Sheena Patel, author of <i>I'm A Fan</i><br><br><b>'Powerful, moving, compelling, utterly enthralling'</b><br>Jon McGregor, author of <i>Reservoir 13</i><br><b><i><br>'</i>A prodigiously talented author: funny and brutal by turns'</b><br><i>Guardian</i><br><br><b>'The style of Woolf but the heart of Dickens'</b><br><i>Sunday Times</i><br><br><b>'Vital reading'</b><br><i>Spectator</i><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>