The Dark

<p><b>With a new foreword by Colin Walsh, this is 'one of the most volatile, vital and unsafe novels in Irish literature', banned by the censor for obscenity in 1965 - and just as explosive today.</b><br><br><i>He was coming and there was nothing to do but wait and grow hard as stone and lie.</i><br><br>Mahoney grows up in fear of his father: of his beatings with the heavy leather strap; of the nights he wants love. Seeking to escape the claustrophobic family farm, he contemplates a future in the priesthood, but battles with his tortured conscience amidst adolescent lusts. After winning a scholarship, he takes a stand against the household's toxic violence - and begins a journey towards an understanding that may mean peace.<br><br>'A master.' <b>Kevin Barry</b><br>'Timeless.' <b>Sinéad Gleeson</b><br>'Extraordinary.' <b>Colin Walsh</b><br>‘Blew me away.’ <b>Colin Barrett</b><br>'A great writer.' <b>Sebastian Barry</b><br>'Exquisite.' <b>Andrew Michael Hurley</b><br>'Elegiac and graceful.' <b>David Mitchell</b><br>'One of the greatest writers of our era.'<b> Hilary Mantel<br></b>'The Irish novelist everyone should read.' <b>Colm Tóibín</b><br>‘The preeminent Irish writer of his generation.’ <b>Anne Enright</b><br>'I’m grateful for every sentence he left in this world.' <b>Donal Ryan</b><br>'One reads McGahern for the textures of time and space, through which each of us travels, often alone.' <b>Yiyun Li</b></p>