“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

The reviewing elves were very impressed with Sean Moncrieff’s latest novel THE HISTORY OF THINGS, and Ian O’Doherty at the Irish Independent reckoned it ‘arguably the best Irish novel of the year so far’, but you shouldn’t let either opinion put you off this perceptive offering, which skewers the pretensions of the Celtic Tiger with quiet, assured authority. Courtesy of the very generous people at New Island, we have three copies of THE HISTORY OF THINGS to give away, and to be in with a chance of winning one just answer the following question:
Is history:
(a) bunk;
(b) a tissue of lies invented by old people to make themselves sound interesting;
(c) “just one fucking thing after another”(© Alan Bennett)?
Answers to dbrodb(at)gmail.com by noon on Monday, December 10, putting ‘Swearing is neither big nor clever unless you’re Alan Bennett’ in the subject line. Et bon chance, mes amis

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