The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once profitable car dealership is going under, and while his wife frantically sells off her jewelry on eBay, he’s busy building a bunker in the woods. Meanwhile, their daughter Cass is grappling with just about every demon of adolescence, and her younger brother is sinking into the black hole of the internet… Where did it all go wrong? How do you cope with hardships whose roots lie deep in the past? How much longer will it take before the Barnes family can face the truth? And if the story has already been written, is there even any chance of a happy ending?
Published by Akropolis, 2025
© Lee Pelligrini
Paul Murray (* 1975) is considered one of the most significant Irish writers of today, and his work is known for its humor, sarcasm, and penetrating insight into Irish society. Murray studied English at Trinity College in Dublin and subsequently earned a master’s degree in creative writing from the East Anglia University. He made his debut in 2009 with the novel An Evening of Long Goodbyes, followed by Skippy Dies (2012), which was nominated for the Man Booker Prize. His penultimate novel, The Mark and the Void (2015), won the Irish Book Award.
Lukáš Novák