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Patrick McCabe


Ireland (b.1955)

Patrick McCabe is an Irish novelist, known for his mostly dark and violent novels set in contemporary, often small-town, Ireland. His books include The Butcher Boy (1992) and Breakfast on Pluto (1998), both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He has also written a children's book (The Adventures of Shay Mouse) and several radio plays broadcast by the RTÉ and the BBC Radio 4. The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto have both been adapted into films by Irish director Neil Jordan. He is also the author of a children's book, The Adventures of Shay Mouse (1985), and a collection of linked short stories, Mondo Desperado, published in 1999. The play Frank Pig Says Hello, which he adapted from The Butcher Boy, was first performed at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 1992.

McCabe lives in Sligo in Ireland with his wife, Margo and two daughters, Katie and Ellen. His recent novel, Emerald Germs of Ireland (2001), is a black comedy featuring matricide Pat McNab and his attempts to fend off nosy neighbours. His latest novel, Winterwood, was published in 2006, and was named the 2007 Hughes & Hughes/Irish Independent Irish Novel of the Year.
 

Genres: Literary Fiction
 
Novels
   Carn (1989)
   The Butcher Boy (1992)
   The Adventures of Shay Mouse (1994)
   The Dead School (1995)
   Breakfast on Pluto (1998)
   Emerald Germs of Ireland (2001)
   Call Me the Breeze (2003)
   Winterwood (2006)
   The Holy City (2008)
   The Stray Sod Country (2010)
   Heartland (2018)
   The Big Yaroo (2019)
   Poguemahone (2022)
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Collections
   Mondo Desperado (1999)
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Novellas and Short Stories
   Goodbye Mr Rat (2013)
   Hello Mr Bones (2013)
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Non fiction show
 
Omnibus editions show
 
Patrick McCabe recommends
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An Olive Grove in Ends (2022)
Moses McKenzie
"What struck me most forcibly about An Olive Grove in Ends was the poetic strength and majesty of its prose - as the author himself might have it, 'like clarified honey'. From an author of such tender years - he is yet but twenty-two - this consummately crafted work can only be a harbinger of a stellar and truly significant career. I urge you to read it."
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He Is Mine and I Have No Other (2018)
Rebecca O'Connor
"Evocative of Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding and Maura Laverty's glorious, long out of print, Never No More, Rebecca O'Connor's debut novel is vivid, authentic and compelling and may be the truest depiction of Irish rural girlhood since Edna O'Brien's Girl With Green Eyes. For that it is, and a lot more besides. What a treat it is to be introduced to such a genuine, compassionately humorous and profoundly tender voice."
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Ithaca (2017)
Alan McMonagle
"Compelling from start to finish. Read it."

More recommendations 


Anthologies containing stories by Patrick McCabe
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Dubliners 100 (2014)
edited by
Thomas Morris
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The Dark End of the Street (2010)
New Stories of Sex and Crime
edited by
S J Rozan and Jonathan Santlofer

Awards
Booker Prize Best Novel nominee (1992) : The Butcher Boy
Bram Stoker Best Novel nominee (1995) : The Butcher Boy
Booker Prize Best Novel nominee (1998) : Breakfast on Pluto
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards Best Novel nominee (2008) : Winterwood


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