Nobber

'A bloody and brilliant first novel'

Oisin Fagan

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Paperback

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English

John Murray
23 July 2019

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE

'A writer out to do whatever the hell he wants . . . a grisly, gross-out slice of medieval life and death, it's vigorously, writhingly itself, spilling out of any box you put it in' Observer

'A dark and bloody tale, well leavened with bone-dry humour, and with a dramatic climax that has about it the flavour of a Jacobean tragedy' Guardian

'Set to become an Irish cult classic' Sunday Business Post

'A tremendously engaging and fun read . . . a crazed, quixotic odyssey' Kevin Barry

An ambitious noble and his three serving men travel through the Irish countryside in the stifling summer of 1348, using the advantage of the plague which has collapsed society to buy up large swathes of property and land. They come upon Nobber, a tiny town, whose only living habitants seem to be an egotistical bureaucrat, his volatile wife, a naked blacksmith, and a beautiful Gaelic hostage. Meanwhile, a band of marauding Gaels are roaming around, using the confusion of the sickness to pillage and reclaim lands that once belonged to them.

As these groups converge upon the town, the habitants, who up until this point have been under strict curfew, begin to stir from their dwellings, demanding answers from the intruders. A deadly stand-off emerges from which no one will escape unscathed.

'Nobber is hallucinatory and sly, conjuring a densely strange and savagely captivating world. There are lots of novels, and there are lots of novels that are all much alike, but there is nothing like Nobber' Colin Barrett

'A skilled storyteller with a rich command of language and rare comedic flair' Irish Times

By: Oisin Fagan
Imprint: John Murray
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 214mm, Width: 136mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 320g
ISBN: 9781529389098
ISBN 10: 1529389097
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 23 July 2019
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print

Oisin Fagan has had short fiction published in the Stinging Fly and the anthology Young Irelanders, with work featured in the Irish Museum of Modern Art. In 2016, he won the inaugural Penny Dreadful Novella Prize for The Hierophants. Hostages, his first collection, was published in 2016. He is a recipient of the 2016 and the 2018 Literature Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland.

Reviews for Nobber: 'A bloody and brilliant first novel'

Nobber is hallucinatory and sly, conjuring a densely strange and savagely captivating world. There are lots of novels, and there are lots of novels that are all much alike, but there is nothing likeNobber - Colin Barrett Amid a strange, dark tale come glimpses of a striking new talent . . . gives us plenty of glimpses of Fagan's literary talent - The Times A highly anticipated debut - RTE Guide