9780374608323

0374608326

"Luminous and devastating, a portrait of modern masculinity as shaped by class, by trauma, and by silence, but also by the courage to love and to survive"-- Provided by publisher.

Sean's brother Anthony is a hard man. When they were kids their ma did her best to keep him out of trouble, but you can't say anything to Anto. Sean was supposed to be different. He was supposed to leave and never come back. But Sean does come back. Arriving home after university, he finds Anthony's drinking is worse than ever. Meanwhile, the jobs in Belfast have vanished, 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 loses control and assaults a stranger at a party, and everything is tipped into chaos. Close to Home witnesses the aftermath of that night as Sean attempts to make sense of who he has become, and to reckon with the relationships that have shaped him, for better and worse.

Brothers > Fiction.

Social classes > Fiction.

Working class men > Ireland > Fiction.

Masculinity > Fiction.

Ireland > Fiction.