Böcker av Glenn Patterson

A pair of novellas, set over two pivotal summers in the lives of two young men from Belfast, recall the constraints of the place where they were born and the times in which they are living. Capturing the innocence of adolescent boys, their passion, confusion and yearning, Two Summers is for anyone who has ever been young.

A view of the south of Ireland - political, social, geographical - through the eyes of a liberal northern protestant being asked to rejoin it. 'A pleasure to read... Incisively mixing memoir, reportage and analysis' Daily Mail 'Discursive, humane and meticulously attentive to verbal nuances that can spell a world of meaning' Irish Examiner 'Patterson's travels provide humorous asides, telling insights and sobering pessimism' Irish IndependentThe reunification of Ireland, which in 1998 seemed to have been pushed over the far horizon as an aspiration, has returned with a vengeance. Brexit calls into question the British commitment to Northern Ireland and threatens its economy. There has been a surge in support for Sinn Féin in the South, a party pushing relentlessly for a poll on the future of the border. If Sinn Féin enters the government of the Republic, as seems inevitable in the coming years, this issue will move even higher up the agenda, with who knows what consequences north of the border.In The Last Irish Question, Glenn Patterson travels the country, looking at this place he is being asked to join and which a significant number of people in the North have spent a very long time shunning. Most of the South is terra incognita to them (as it is to many people who live in Dublin). There have been countless books describing and travelling through Ulster, but never one that turns its gaze the other way. Brilliantly witty and alarmingly topical, this is a social, political and geographical view of the South of Ireland, as well as a journey of discovery for a quizzical Northerner being asked to rejoin it.

Saturday, 28 January 1967. It is a day like any other for eighteen-year-old Danny, pulling pints behind the bar of the International Hotel in Belfast, watching the comings and goings of the eccentric clientele.But ordinary days like this are almost over. The hotel has already been witness to the city's dark tendencies - Danny's job was only secured after another barman was shot. And with the inaugural meeting of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association the following day, Belfast is on the cusp of changing forever Widely praised by writers and critics, including Colm Tibn and A.L. Kennedy, The International is 'the best book about the Troubles ever written'.The book also contains an essay by Glenn Patterson and a critical essay by Anne Enright. Glenn Patterson is also the author of Burning Your Own, Fat Lad and The Third Party, all published by Blackstaff Press.

A view of the south of Ireland - political, social, geographical - through the eyes of a liberal northern protestant being asked to rejoin it. 'A pleasure to read, forensically and wittily observed, incisively mixing memoir, reportage and analysis' Daily Mail'He has a light touch, a way of glancing off things and leaving our perception of them changed. He can dazzle. He tells a good story' Irish TimesThe reunification of Ireland, which seemed in 1998 to have been pushed over the far horizon as an aspiration, has returned with a vengeance. Brexit calls into question the British commitment to Northern Ireland and threatens its economy. There has been a surge in support for Sinn Fein south of the border. This is a dangerous and divisive issue, and will become more so if Sinn Fein enters the government of the Republic, as seems inevitable in the next couple of years. They are pushing relentlessly, as only that cult-like party knows how, for a poll on the future of the border.In The Last Irish Question Glenn Patterson views the south through the eyes of a liberal northern protestant, travelling the entire country and looking at this place he is being asked to join and which his people have spent a very long time shunning. Most of the south is terra incognita to them (as it is to many people who live in Dublin).There have been countless books describing and travelling through Ulster, but never a book like this that turns its gaze the other way: a journey of discovery through the south by a sceptical northerner. The attitudes Patterson exposes in those rural and small town areas outside Dublin will probably come as a shock to many Irish readers. Patterson is a witty, brilliant observer and this will be a highly enjoyable as well as alarmingly topical book.

A witty and impassioned book on Ulster, which has been thrust into the centre of British and European politics and which is likely to become Britain's frontier with the wider world.

A topical novel about lost love, growing older and the realities of life in a society that is still coming to terms with thirty years of violence, some of that violence still very present and dangerous.