Carn: A Novel

Patrick McCabe, whom the San Francisco Chronicle called “one of the most brilliant writers ever to come out of Ireland,” presents another compelling novel of small-town Ireland that leaves its indelible mark on the canon of classic fiction. Carn is the story of two women; Josie Keenan, who returns to Carn, Ireland, the provincial hometown she once left behind, and Sadie Rooney, a factory worker who dreams of leaving. As the two women strike up a friendship–fueled by hopes to better their lives, yet inextricably tied to the tenuous fate of Carn–each must confront the hard truths of her past and future. And despite its own attempt to thrive, the town itself cannot escape the daily reminders of Ireland’s endless legacy of violence and unrest.

Written in the raw, unsparing prose that marks McCabe’s fiction, Carn is the timeless story of a small town struggling to break away from its bleak past, and the lives of two women aching to escape the forces that shaped them.