The Black Pool

Raw and powerful -- Books to look out for in 2025 * Irish Times * The Black Pool is a funny, nerve-wracking and utterly compelling memoir of addiction and literature written in a language that is entanglingly inventive, at once cool and lush, and equally capable of conjuring the most delicate sense-memory and hardest heartbreak -- Colin Barrett, author of WILD HOUSES I've never read anything like The Black Pool. There are spiritual echoes of William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson, and of Sylvia Plath's jocose auto-fictional revelations of her efforts to die and to live, but these sentences are all Tim MacGabhann's own, and each one is a joyful thrill. His language is flamboyant, huge, dexterous, as alive as ink on paper can be. This is a wildly brilliant account of a life lived in a struggle against terrible pain, a memoir of addiction and recovery for the ages, a stone-cold classic of the form. I was floored by the power and beauty of this book -- Donal Ryan, author of THE QUEEN OF DIRT ISLAND The Black Pool is extraordinary; MacGabhann manages to be simultaneously tender, raw, profound, hilarious and horrible, guiding us through a nightmare into beautiful, hard-won wisdom -- Lisa McInerney, author of THE GLORIOUS HERESIES Every sentence is a still-burning roach, flicked with glee into the face of death. Only Tim MacGabhann can break your heart like this - and give you the language to stitch it back together. I urge you to succumb to the ice-cold, visceral glory of the black pool -- Ben Pester, author of AM I IN THE RIGHT PLACE? I found this book beautiful, wild, poetical, with lashings of hilarity soaking every page and surprises leaping from every line. It's a desperately important book by a writer in the prime of their abilities. This writer shows us gruesome darkness just as he wills us to survive it all. Bravo, a shot in the arm -- Maggie Armstrong, author of OLD ROMANTICS MacGabhann traces the roots of addiction and illness through his youth and childhood, writing about where he tried to find solace and what happened when everything fell apart. A vibrant, darkly humorous writer -- Non-fiction highlights for 2025 * Irish Independent * Unflinchingly honest, heart-wrenching and life-affirming -- 10 books we're looking forward to reading in 2025 * RTÉ * A gripping and personal story of addiction -- 2025 Books to Read * Irish Examiner *