Kirjahaku

'Absolutely MAGNIFICENT: dark, witty, charming. I LOVED it.' MARIAN KEYES'Original, terrifying, hilarious and memorable.' SUNDAY TIMES IRELAND 'An Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit, a dark supernatural mystery and an account of mass trauma...meticulously observed.' GUARDIANWhen several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences.It is late June in Ballylack. Hannah Adger anticipates eight long weeks' reprieve from school, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other.As others fall ill, questions about what - or who - is responsible pitch the village into conflict and fearful disarray. Hannah is haunted by guilt as she remains healthy while her friends are struck down. Isolated and afraid, she prays for help. Elsewhere in the village, tempers simmer, panic escalates and long-buried secrets threaten to emerge. Bursting with Carson's trademark wit, profound empathy and soaring imagination, The Raptures explores how tragedy can unite a small community - and tear it apart. At its heart is the extraordinary resilience of one young girl. As the world crumbles around her, she must find the courage to be different in a place where conforming feels like the only option available.Darkly funny, highly inventive and deeply moving, The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022'I gobbled up The Raptures . . . packed with wit and heart, and always utterly absorbing.' LISA MCINERNEY'Utterly compulsive and gripping . . . Jan Carson is a true original. An absolute must read. Outstanding.' ELAINE FEENEY'Heart-rending, hilarious . . . it's a belter' LOUISE KENNEDY'Blistering...glorious...written from the guts and from the heart.' LUCY CALDWELL'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation' SUNDAY TIMESDarkly funny, highly inventive and deeply moving, The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022Readers love The Raptures: ***** 'An incredibly original and compelling story set in a Protestant community during the Troubles in N.Ireland.'***** 'A beautiful story about religion, illness, death, grief, ghosts, growing up, belonging and family' ***** 'I couldn't put it down... Definitely one of the top books this year.'***** 'A very vivid picture of life in a religious community in rural Northern Ireland during the early 90s but in many ways it transcends its time and place... I gulped it down.'***** 'I loved everything about this book. The writing style, the characters, the humour. Best book I have read this year by a mile!'

‘Jan Carson is a born storyteller: her work is so imaginative, whimsical, mischievous and brave, but tender and curious too — you never know where she's going to take you next, so reading her is always an adventure. Exactly how it should be.’ LISA MCINERNEY, author of THE GLORIOUS HERESIES------In sixteen sparkling stories, Jan Carson introduces us to worlds and characters that feel real enough to touch. All of life is here: the thrill of growing up, the grief when youth is over; first love, mature love, parenthood and loss - all shot through with profound compassion, warm wit, and boundless imagination.In 'A Certain Degree of Ownership', a distracted couple on a beach fail to notice their baby crawl perilously towards the sea. In 'Troubling the Water', a rumour spreads at a public swimming pool and chaos ensues. In 'Fair Play' a dishevelled father loses his two sons in an adventure park.Every so often, an irresistible suggestion of the other world will surprise and delight, reaffirming Carson as a thrillingly original and audacious talent, and making Quickly, While They Still Have Horses the perfect introduction for readers new to her work.

In 1958 soon-to-be Northern Irish Prime Minister Terrence O’Neill proposed draining Lough Neagh, (the largest lake in the UK), in order to create a seventh county for the North. O’Neill was widely mocked for his ludicrous idea. In Few and Far Between, Belfast-based writer, Jan Carson’s fourth novel, she imagines an alternative history in which O’Neill’s drainage scheme proceeds, exposing an archipelago of tiny islands in the middle of Lough Neagh, (which really exist). The Neagh Archipelago provides sanctuary for dozens of individuals intimidated out of their homes during the “Troubles,” and at first becomes a kind of haven for people who want to love a different life, who don’t fit in on the mainland. One timeline tells of the growth of this community and the flamboyant social anthropologist, Robert John Connelly, who arrives in the 1970s to document the residents’ lives and becomes something of a guru figure who never leaves.The second timeline begins in 2017, when the new government proposes to release the dams, and flood the archipelago once more. Most of the families have now abandoned the islands and only a few remain, including Marion and Robert, the now-adult children of RJ Connelly. The island has also become home to ‘sleepers’ and ‘almost deads’, those caught in a hinterland between life and death. Before the dams are destroyed and the floods descend, a second anthropologist is sent to the islands. But there are secrets buried on these islands that no one remaining wants her to discover.

'Profoundly imagined characters, spiced with the off-kilter and deliciously mad . . . a work of great empathy and imagination' THE IRISH TIMESThe season's just begun at Seacliff Caravan Park, but none of the residents are having a good time. Frankie is haunted by his daughter's death. Vidas, homeless and far from Lithuania, seeks sanctuary in an abandoned caravan. Anna struggles to shake off the ghost of her overbearing mother. Kathleen struggles to accept her daughter for who she is. Malcolm, a failed illusionist, makes one final attempt to reinvent himself. Agatha Christie-obsessed Alma faces her toughest case yet as she tries to help them all find what they've lost.With trademark wit and playfulness, in this stunning linked short-story collection Jan Carson explores complex family dynamics, ageing, immigration, gender politics, the decline of the Church and the legacy of the Troubles. The Last Resort firmly places Carson as one of the most inventive and daring writers of her generation.'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES

**WINNER of the EU Prize for Literature**'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES'Gripping, affecting, surprising. I inhaled it' LISA MCINERNEY 'Captivating, intelligent and courageous' IRISH TIMES'Spectacular. At once grittily real, wildly magical and insanely alluring - a siren-song of a novel.' DONAL RYAN'Jan Carson seems to have invented a new Belfast in this gripping, surprising, exhilarating novel.' RODDY DOYLE'Blew me away with its power, anger and wit.' JOSEPH O'CONNOR Dr Jonathan Murray fears his new-born daughter is not as harmless as she seems. Sammy Agnew is wrestling with his dark past, and fears the violence in his blood lurks in his son, too.The city is in flames and the authorities are losing control. As matters fall into frenzy, and as the lines between fantasy and truth, right and wrong, begin to blur, who will these two fathers choose to protect?Dark, propulsive and thrillingly original, this tale of fierce familial love and sacrifice fizzes with magic and wonder.

A surreal and darkly comic collection of stories that offer a fresh and irreverent look at life in contemporary Northern Ireland from "one of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation" (The Sunday Times, London).Humorous and horrifying, tender and absurd, the stories in Quickly, While They Still Have Horses offer a fresh, irreverent look at life in post-conflict Northern Ireland. From first loves to strained relationships, the thrills and terrors of growing up to the dangers and challenges of parenthood, Carson infuses all her stories with empathy, dark wit, and a surreal edge. In "A Certain Degree of Ownership," a distracted couple on a beach fail to notice their baby crawl perilously toward the sea. In "Grand So," the ghost of a car's previous owner haunts the backseat. In "Troubling the Water," a rumor of miraculous healing creates chaos at a public swimming pool. Carson never fails to shock and delight as kids go missing in jungle gyms, a baby washes up on a riverbank in a biscuit tin, and a bloody hand appears (and reappears) in a refrigerator. Every so often, these stories travel into alternate versions of our world where pillars of fire are a new treatment for mental illness and animals deemed nonessential are going extinct by legislative orders. While the legacy of the Troubles is never far from Carson's mind, it is only a backdrop to the worlds she's woven in these stories, driven by characters who feel real enough to touch. This stunning collection marks the arrival of a "bracingly fresh, darkly funny, and] unwaveringly compassionate" (The Irish News) writer to North American readers.

When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences.'Absolutely MAGNIFICENT: dark, witty, charming. I LOVED it.' MARIAN KEYES 'Utterly absorbing' LISA MCINERNEY'Heart-rending, hilarious . . . it's a belter' LOUISE KENNEDY'Blistering...glorious...written from the guts and from the heart.' LUCY CALDWELL'An original and exciting work that's equal parts terrifying, hilarious and memorable.' SUNDAY TIMESIt is late June in Ballylack. Hannah Adger anticipates eight long weeks' reprieve from school, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other.As others fall ill, questions about what - or who - is responsible pitch the village into conflict and fearful disarray. Hannah is haunted by guilt as she remains healthy while her friends are struck down. Isolated and afraid, she prays for help.Elsewhere in the village, tempers simmer, panic escalates and long-buried secrets threaten to emerge.Bursting with Carson's trademark wit, profound empathy and soaring imagination, The Raptures explores how tragedy can unite a small community - and tear it apart. At its heart is the extraordinary resilience of one young girl. As the world crumbles around her, she must find the courage to be different in a place where conforming feels like the only option available.Darkly funny, highly inventive and deeply moving, The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022.

‘Jan Carson is a born storyteller: her work is so imaginative, whimsical, mischievous and brave, but tender and curious too — you never know where she's going to take you next, so reading her is always an adventure. Exactly how it should be.’ LISA MCINERNEY, author of THE GLORIOUS HERESIES'Pure magic, funny, sharp, heartbreaking, the short form at its absolute best. Jan Carson is a unique and very special writer, one of the greatest of the modern fabulists. - DONAL RYAN author of HEART BE AT PEACE------In sixteen sparkling stories, Jan Carson introduces us to worlds and characters that feel real enough to touch. All of life is here: the thrill of growing up, the grief when youth is over; first love, mature love, parenthood and loss - all shot through with profound compassion, warm wit, and boundless imagination.In 'A Certain Degree of Ownership', a distracted couple on a beach fail to notice their baby crawl perilously towards the sea. In 'Troubling the Water', a rumour spreads at a public swimming pool and chaos ensues. In 'Fair Play' a dishevelled father loses his two sons in an adventure park.Every so often, an irresistible suggestion of the other world will surprise and delight, reaffirming Carson as a thrillingly original and audacious talent, and making Quickly, While They Still Have Horses the perfect introduction for readers new to her work.

Read the debut short story collection from the multi-award-winning author of The Raptures, now updated with a new bonus story.'Jan Carson is a born storyteller' Lisa McInerneyA floating six-year-old tethered to the backyard fence; two siblings watching their parents argue inside a greenhouse; a human statue who’s lost the ability to move; a support group for the haunted: the characters in Children’s Children are all falling apart in their own peculiar ways.Told in Jan Carson’s distinctive voice, her debut short story collection contains absurdist, darkly humorous and heartbreaking stories which explore the concept of legacy, and the impact of one generation upon the next.--PRAISE FOR JAN CARSON:'These stories are pure magic, funny, sharp, heartbreaking, the short form at its absolute best. Jan Carson is a unique and very special writer, one of the greatest of the modern fabulists' DONAL RYAN, author of Heart, Be at Peace'Story after story glints with the strange, hard magic of the North . . . I adored them.' LUCY CALDWELL, author of These Days'Jan Carson's stories are by turns hilarious, heartbreaking, heartwarming - but always surprising' ERIC NGUYEN, author of Things We Lost to the Water'Jan Carson is one of the most original voices I’ve read in years . . . I am truly in awe of this collection' TANIA JAMES, author of The Tusk That Did the Damage'What an enormous pleasure it is to read Jan Carson. Each short story is masterful, brilliantly inventive and moving. Every page reveals the mark of an extraordinary original and gifted writer' KARL GEARY, author of Montpelier Parade

Each day of 2015 Jan Carson wrote a short story on the back of a postcard and mailed it to a friend. Each of these tiny stories was inspired by an event, an overheard conversation, a piece of art or just a fleeting glance of something worth thinking about further. Collected in one volume, Carson's postcards present a panoramic view of contemporary Belfast -- its coffee shops, streets and museums and airports -- and offer it to the wider world. Even as they seem to spring from a writer's solitary perspective, taken together, these observations and their distribution speak of human connectedness. Like a pleasant surprise in the mail, this collection reminds us how many friendships are born and strengthened in a story shared. Illustrated by Benjamin Phillips.

Children's Children is a collection of fifteen short stories which cast a darkly humorous and oftentimes acidic eye, over life in post-conflict Northern Ireland. The stories contained in the collection are an eclectic selection of pieces which vary from traditional literary fiction to magic realism and subtle experiments with the short story form. They deal with the theme of legacy; the achievements, issues and problems this generation has inherited from the previous. Disillusioned street preachers, adulterous grocery shoppers, robotic brothers and child burglars are all given voice to express their experiences of life in contemporary Northern Ireland as Carson blurs the line between social commentary and modern parable.

In 2015, suffering from a dreadful case of writer’s block, novelist and short story writer Jan Carson set herself the challenge of spending an entire year writing short pieces of microfiction on postcards and mailing these to friends around the world. When 2016 ended, she found it impossible to stop writing postcard stories. The stories in this collection represent the best of some five hundred postcard stories Jan has written since.