Dancing With Minnie The Twig

Aug 18, 2025 9:52 AM

Author:Mogue Doyle

Rural Ireland in the 1960s: if you were a boy, you listened to Luxembourg on the wireless, went to the pictures, went hurling up the fields with your best friend, thought about what the big boys got up to with the girls, and in particular what your brother did with his girlfriend, Minnie. Your mam ruled the house and you watched out for your father - the old lad - who was liable to fly into rages and give you a right ringer when you weren't expecting it. Most of all, you knew everything about the village where you lived, and everyone there. And Tony did; he was one smart boy, ready for anything - at least he thought he was until the day he saw his father with Mrs Rourke and was involved in an accident that changed everything.

Dancing with Minnie the Twig is Tony's story. It is a haunting and very special novel as, on the day of his funeral, he watches his family, friends and the rest of the community arrive at the church and prepare for the service to mark the end of his short life. In terms of its rural setting and its focus on a small community that, even in Ireland, has long since ceased to exist, the book has real echoes of Dancing at Lughnasa. It's Irish in the best sense of the word; the characters step out of the pages to meet you, and although Tony is dead, his narrative voice blazes with life. Very funny in parts, the novel is overlaid with a melancholy for times past that lingers long after the final page has been turned.

Reviews

A promising debut by any standard ... The sense of a time and place about to change forever is achieved with no little subtlety ... Keeps the reader hooked right to the end

—— Sunday Tribune

'One of the simplest and blackest rites of passage books you will come across'

—— In Dublin

An unabashed carnival of bloodletting, betrayal and rough sex...Kristian has a knack for writing real blokes living their lives

—— Daily Telegraph

Plenty of interest for fans of Norse tales, with battles galore and the promise of more to come

—— Daily Mail

A gripping tale of action and treachery which splendidly conjures up the sounds, sights and smells of Dark Age Britain. It creates a believable world of men fighting, feasting and braving the sea, a time when the Christian and Norse gods were very real and very close in the thoughts of mankind. It leaves the reader keen for the sequel

—— Harry Sidebottom, author of Warrior of Rome

Kristian's first novel is a rip-roaring viking saga...Raven is a complex, engaging hero, trying to carve a path through a world that is satisfyingly confusing while still retaining the bedrock of all good sagas: a woman to fight for, a church treasure and a duplicitous priest. Fine, powerful, thrilling stuff!

—— Manda Scott

Entertaining and engaging...If War with the Mein is an indication of what is to come in this epic saga, Durham could be making a very big name for himself.

—— SFFWORLD

Vastly entertaining...Will good win out over evil? In Durham's morally ambiguous world, the uncertainty is part of the thrill

—— STRANGEHORIZONS

Sprawling and vividly imagined fantasy...Durham has created a richly detailed alternate reality leavened with a dollop of magic and populated by complicated personalities grappling with issues of freedom and oppression.

—— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Chikwava gives his anti-hero an unforgettable voice; a fine balance between tragedy and comedy

—— Kate Saunders , The Times

Chikwava's unreliable narrator is animated with an unforgettable voice in this poetic and tragicomic tale

—— The Times

Hilarious and terrifying

—— Sarah Fakray , Dazed and Confused

It's a wry delight

—— Esquire

This fantastically energetic debut offers a dark, funny vision of the underbelly of London populated by illegal immigrants...Harare North's politics are subversive and cynical and Brian Chikwava's sharp style draws attention to the meanings not just behind the euphemisms that cloak human tragedy under Mugabe's regime but the hypocrisies found in England's capital

—— Tina Jackson , Metro

Chikwava has a distinctive style, a complex mix of grit and humour with a voice that is persuasive enough to unsettle the reader and force them to uncomfortably inhabit 'the other' and (somewhat guiltily) reassess certain assumptions

—— Time Out

The narrator is an astute observer of London immigrant life. Chickwava can be funny as well, finding humour in the worst situations

—— Emily Firetog , Irish Times

The comedy ranges from wry to very earthy, while the strikingly poetic use of African-derived imagery gives the novel much more than just a 'generic immigrant' feel... Harare North was a joy to read and comes highly recommenced for all in search of original voices in modern fiction

—— www.thebookbag.com

Witty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny

—— Arabella Weir

The funniest writer ever to put words to paper

—— Hugh Laurie

The greatest comic writer ever

—— Douglas Adams

P.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century

—— Sebastian Faulks

Sublime comic genius

—— Ben Elton

Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in

—— Evelyn Waugh

He exhausts superlatives

—— Stephen Fry

The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare

—— Evening Standard

Previous Article：Lost and Found Next Article：Vanity Fair

Comments

Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.