Close to Home

Winner of the Nero Book Award for Debut Fiction 2023

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Close to Home

By: Michael Magee

Narrated by: Conor MacNeill

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Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE ROONEY PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2023
WATERSTONES IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2023

Sean is back. Back in Belfast and back into old habits. Back on the mad all-nighters, the borrowed tenners and missing rent, the casual jobs that always fall through. Back in these scarred streets, where the promised prosperity of peacetime has never arrived. Back among his brothers, his ma, and all the things they never talk about. Until one night Sean finds himself at a party – dog-tired, surrounded by jeering strangers, his back against the wall – and he makes a big mistake.

'Staggeringly humane, unfaltering, taut and tender... [It] feels like that rarest of things: a genuinely necessary book' Guardian

'Every detail rings true, every character is fleshy and real and heartbreaking... Michael Magee has a remarkable talent' Sunday Times

©2023 Michael Magee (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Michael MageeConor MacNeillPenguin

Coming of Age

Family Life

Fiction

Genre Fiction

Literary Fiction

Political

Heartfelt

Thought-Provoking

Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Heartfelt Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

Exceptional . . . Every detail rings true, every character is fleshy and real and heartbreaking . . . Magee has a remarkable talent

Taut and impressive, unfaltering and deftly executed . . . [It] feels like that rarest of things: a genuinely necessary book

An exceptional debut destined for novel of the year shortlists

Michael Magee is a born storyteller. By the end of the novel I wanted to book a flight to Ireland just to walk around and imagine who was where . . . I read this in two or three sittings only because I wanted to slow down and spend more time with Magee's considered and companionate writing. I finished it only last month, but plan to take it with me abroad to enjoy it once more

A vision of a post-conflict Belfast that didn't deliver what it promised, blighted by poverty, pain and memory. But far from being bleak, I laughed out loud many times. And it is full of love. Each character is so vividly drawn that I felt like I had met them somewhere before; even the most flawed of them is treated with dignity and respect, and an absence of judgement that reminded me of Annie Ernaux. And the writing! Supple, rich and demotic - Kneecap meets Chekhov - no one else is doing this. I had great hopes for this novel and Michael Magee has booted it out of the park. Absolutely glorious. (Louise Kennedy, author of 'Trespasses')

Unflinching, direct, disarmingly sensitive . . . Suffusing his narrative with honesty and grace, Magee succeeds in bringing his neighborhood to life for readers and suggests that, amid what seems like a never-ending struggle, there is always room for hope

Michael Magee's Close to Home, amazingly a first novel, is about what it's like to be young and working class right now in Northern Ireland, and is a tremendous read, tensed and immersive, punching the air between hope and despair, deeply decent, unputdownable

Wonderful. A debut overflowing with years of experience and carefully worked craft. By turns hard-edged and soft-hearted, this novel is a gift from Michael Magee to us all (Jon McGregor, author of 'Reservoir 13')

The message of Michael Magee's dead-on debut novel is universal. At its core, Close to Home is about finding a way to transcend the pain, the people and the place you're born into

A complex and compassionate portrait of modern Belfast by an impressive new talent . . . Close to Home is a working class novel, an Irish novel, a bildungsroman, a novel about the self-congratulatory failures of Northern Ireland's political elite . . . [and a] sharp deconstruction of toxic masculinity

Most relevant

I’m only half way through but can’t wait to say how pleased I am with what I’m hearing. I grew up in west Belfast myself, albeit a long time ago (I’m nearly 70) and I’m enjoying so much the authentic speech and vivid sense of place, both geographically and in the distinctive culture.
You can’t escape the mountain - it’s at the bottom of every street. When the ma occasionally sells a painting it’s “Madonna, Gerry Adams, somebody’s Alsatian ..” Superbly observed. I’ll come back when it’s finished to share more.
A perfect reading from Conor MacNeill - what a relief they got somebody able to get the accents right while also reading with near flawless intelligence.

PS Just finished it and sorry it's over. Some people had said it's one of those books where nothing happens. i can understand their point but what does happen is much closer to life than in typical plots. It's not banal though.There are some very tense situations and in fact a lot of tensions underpin all of the everyday stuff. But it's more about gradually revealing more and more of the emotional core of the main characters and the histories which have moulded them. A couple of scenes really caught me off guard and brought tears to my eyes.