Anakana Schofield

Bina, a bracingly plain-spoken older Irishwoman, is under police surveillance for a crime considered so unspeakable and incendiary that she cannot refer to it directly upon threat of immediate arrest. As a last resort, Bina has taken to her bed to write out her own version of her story on the backs of old envelopes. Slowly, we piece together the poignant truth: at the heart of this book is a deliberate act of merciful euthanasia that brings with it an awful burden, one that an anguished Bina cannot bear to face.

A Novel in Warnings

Bina

Advance praise for Martin John: "Profane, strange, hilarious, and necessary, Martin John is a beguiling triumph."—Patrick deWitt, author ofThe Sisters Brothers "This is literature serving its most essential function: illuminating the darkest recesses; dragging the unspoken and suppressed to the foreground . . . throwing light across the blackest of humanity's vistas. This is writing at its most fearless: visceral and searing, yet textured and nuanced; the darkest of comedy and the deepest of insight."—Donal Ryan, author ofThe Thing About December and The Spinning Heart "This is a very moving and terrific book."—Daniel Handler Martin John is not keen on P words. He isolates P words from the newspapers into long lists. For you, so you know he's kept busy, so you don't have to worry he might be beside you or following you or thinking about your body parts. So you don't have to worry about what else he has been thinking about. From Ananaka Schofield, the brilliant and unconventional author of Malarky, comes a dark and uncomfortable novel circuiting through the minds, motivations, and preoccupations of a character many women have experienced, but few up until now, have understood quite so well. The result confirms Schofield as one of the bravest and most innovative authors at work in English today. Anakana Schofield is an Irish-born writer, who won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Debut-Litzer Prize for Fiction in 2013 for her debut novelMalarky.

Martin John

Our Woman refuses to be sunk by what life is about to serve her. She’s just caught her son Jimmy in the barn with another man. She’s been accosted by Red the Twit, who claims to have done the unmentionable with her husband. And now her son’s gone and joined the only group that will have him: an army division on its way to Afghanistan. Setting aside her prim and proper ways, Our Woman promptly embarks on an odyssey of her own – one that forces her to look grief in the eye and come face-to-face with the mad agony of longing.

Malarky

Shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020 'Insightful. Inventive. Hilarious. Genius' EIMEAR MCBRIDE 'Bina is fiction of the rarest and darkest kind, a work whose pleasures must be taken measure for measure with its pains' RACHEL CUSK 'A captivating look at female friendship' MAIL ON SUNDAY My name is Bina and I'm a very busy woman. That's Bye-na, not Beena. I don't know who Beena is but I expect she's having a happy life. I don't know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you've come all this way here to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse. I'm here to warn you . . . So begins this 'novel in warnings' - an unforgettable tour de force in the voice of an ordinary-extraordinary woman who has simply had enough. Through the character of Bina, who is writing out her story on the backs of discarded envelopes, Anakana Schofield filters a complex moral universe filled with humour and sadness, love and rage, and the consolations, obligations and mysteries of lifelong friendship. A work of great power, skill, and transformative empathy from a unique and astonishing writer.

Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2021

Finalist for the 2015 Giller Prize Among The National Post's Top 5 Books of 2015 Among The Toronto Star's Top 5 Fiction Books of 2015 Among Largehearted Boy's Favourite Novels of 2015 One of Quill & Quire’s Books of the Year, 2015 Among The Edmonton Journal's Top 5 Books of 2015 A 49th Shelf Book of the Year, 2015 Among NOW Toronto's Top 10 Books of 2015 Martin John’s mam says that she is glad he is done with it. But is Martin John done with it? He says he wants it to stop, his mother wants it to stop, we all want it to stop. But is it really what Martin John wants? He had it in his mind to do it and he did it. Harm was done when he did it. Harm would continue to be done. Who will stop Martin John? Will you stop him? Should she stop him? From Anakana Schofield, the brilliant author of the bestselling Malarky, comes a darkly comic novel circuiting through the mind, motivations and preoccupations of a character many women have experienced but few have understood quite so well. The result confirms Schofield as one of the bravest and most innovative authors at work in English today. Anakana Schofield is an Irish-born writer, who won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Debut-Litzer Prize for Fiction in 2013 for her debut novel Malarky.

Anakana Schofield

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