Author:Bernard MacLaverty

The long-awaited new collection from Bernard MacLaverty examines worlds in collision, relationships fragmenting, innocence face to face with real life, real death. A Catholic schoolboy minding goal has a theological debate with a B-Special; a chess game in Spain is a catalyst for grief and redemption; a Belfast man out walking his dog is kidnapped at gunpoint and told to say his ABC. . .
Interwoven through the book are wry, elliptical 'stories within stories' about fiction and the writing of it, featuring 'your man' -a comically beleaguered alter ego. Acting as foils to the brilliance of the real thing, these very short pieces point up the tough lyricism of MacLaverty's work. As always, his writing is vivid, exact and pellucid, his characters perfectly observed, the surface of the prose deceptively still. It is only once we enter the world of the stories that we begin to make out the huge shapes that move there: loss, love, disappointment, fierce joy.
WALKING THE DOG has been worth waiting for: it is a powerful, honest and moving book by one of the great storytellers of our age.
A love story in the very best sense of the phrase...a very good novel as well as an enjoyable one
—— Literary ReviewA tense and steamy narrative
—— Times Literary SupplementA patchwork of pain and longing stitched into a satisfying pattern by Rose Tremain's humour and depth of sympathy
—— Mail on SundayThe Lightning Keeper is a big, old-fashioned panoramic feast of a novel ... A marvelous story.
—— Philadelphia InquirerThis is a beautifully crafted book - at once a gripping adventure story and a compelling portrayal of human emotion at its bravest and its most vulnerable
—— EconomistThe Colour is the produce of a large and generous talent, generous in its giving of enjoyment
—— Financial TimesAn engrossing novel, an adventure story with a sensitive side
—— ObserverThe Colour is a measured book, a diligent, painstaking book
—— Sunday TelegraphShe is a magical storyteller - it is as an artist that she excels
—— New StatesmanBrilliantly detailed and textured
—— Daily MailTremain is the finest of historical fiction writers
—— GlossIt's uncommonly well written, with a bountiful supply of manic energy... Would Paul Auster kill to write a book as playful, fast-paced and unashamedly populist as this? Doubtful, but somewhere there's a "Paul Auster" who might
—— Alastair Mabbott , HeraldSparky debut
—— Jonathan Barnes , Literary ReviewBenedictus takes us on a trail of the contentious highs and lows of the rich and famous in a mixture of dark humour and sharp dialogue. For Benedictus, and his valiant debut novel, more of the same please
—— Ben Bookless , Big IssueThe story of the ultimate celeb after-party, it's a knowing wink at publishing and celebrity culture - a high-concept first novel sitting just the right side of salacious
—— ElleThe Afterparty avoids smugness partly because it has more affection that vitriol for the culture that it mocks... It's very funny, but sad, too... Well-drawn characters, smart dialogue and a canny plot
—— Anthony Cummins , The Times






