Close to Home A Novel
Close to Home by Michael Magee, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on May 16, 2023, is a novel that explores the complexities of life in West Belfast. In this 288-page narrative, the protagonist, Sean, navigates the challenges of returning home after university, only to find himself confronted by the familiar struggles of his past. Despite the promise of a brighter future following the end of the thirty-year conflict, Sean discovers that little has changed, as he grapples with lost opportunities and the weight of his surroundings.
The story begins with a violent incident that sets off a chain of events, revealing a stark portrait of working-class Ireland shaped by the legacy of the Troubles. Close to Home delves into themes of desperation, loss, and the cycles of trauma that bind individuals to their circumstances. Through Sean’s journey, readers will encounter the realities of life in a community marked by silence and unfulfilled dreams, offering insights into the broader context of biographical and literary fiction set in 21st-century Ireland.
Official synopsis Publisher
While growing up in West Belfast, Sean does everything he’s supposed to do. He works hard, he studies, and he – mostly – stays out of trouble. The thirty-year conflict is over, he’s told, and his future is lit with promise.
But when Sean returns home from university, he finds much of the same-the same friends doing the same gear in the same clubs; the same lost brothers and mad fathers; the same closed doors; the same silences. There are no jobs, Sean’s degree isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, and no one will give him the time of day. One night, he assaults a stranger at a party, and everything begins to come undone.
Close to Home begins with this sudden act of violence and expands into a startling portrait of working-class Ireland under the long shadow of the Troubles. It’s a first novel drawn from life, written with the immediacy of thought. It’s about what happens when men get desperate, about the cycles of loss and trauma and secrecy that keep them trapped, and about the struggle to get free.
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