Poguemahone
Will be published approx. on 10. September 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
624 pages
978-1-0374-0438-2 (ISBN)
Description
'If you're looking for this century's Ulysses, look no further' - Observer
'Wildly original' - Times Literary Supplement
Dan Fogarty is visiting his seventy-year-old sister Una, who is living in a care home in Margate. Una has dementia, but she is still able to recall her youth, spent in a hippie commune in South London. A picture of their family's history begins to emerge; the Fogartys were evicted from their home of Currabawn in Ireland in the 1950s, and both Dan and Una have been haunted by this forced exile.
A sprawling, dazzlingly inventive novel in verse, Poguemahone cements McCabe's status as one of Ireland's greatest writers.
Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.
'Wildly original' - Times Literary Supplement
Dan Fogarty is visiting his seventy-year-old sister Una, who is living in a care home in Margate. Una has dementia, but she is still able to recall her youth, spent in a hippie commune in South London. A picture of their family's history begins to emerge; the Fogartys were evicted from their home of Currabawn in Ireland in the 1950s, and both Dan and Una have been haunted by this forced exile.
A sprawling, dazzlingly inventive novel in verse, Poguemahone cements McCabe's status as one of Ireland's greatest writers.
Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.
Reviews / Votes
If you're looking for this century's Ulysses, look no further . . . a stunningly lyrical novel * Observer * Poguemahone is a blistering, brilliant ballad . . . The characters are electric, the narrative fuelled with a brilliant frenetic energy - I loved this great song. McCabe is truly original * Elaine Feeney * McCabe may be right when he claims that Poguemahone is his best book: it is startlingly original, moving, funny, frightening and beautiful -- Ian Duhig * The Guardian * A bleakly comic, wildly original 600-page epic about loss, exile and mental illness . . . Poguemahone is, in content and execution, frequently astonishing . . . in its haunting strangeness and blazing originality, it deserves far more than a cult following * Times Literary Supplement * Poguemahone, living up to its author's reputation, is daring, studded with brilliance * The New York Times Book Review * Modernist and eager to push the boundaries of his own art and the art form of the novel, here is a novelist and novel to celebrate in all their ribald, audacious, outrageous, and compelling brilliance * Irish Sunday Independent * A marvel; McCabe's inventive use of enjambment and stanza layout push the boundaries of what is possible in narrative storytelling . . . A moving saga of youth, age, and memory-by turns achingly poetic, knowingly philosophical, and bitterly funny * Kirkus * Lively and ambitious in form, this admirably extends the range of McCabe's career-long examination of familial and childhood trauma * Publishers Weekly *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 130 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0374-0438-2 (9781037404382)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Patrick McCabe was born in Clones, County Monaghan. He is the author of The Butcher Boy, which won the Irish Times Literature Prize for Fiction; The Dead School; Breakfast on Pluto and others. The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto were both shortlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into feature films by Neil Jordan. Winterwood was named the 2007 Hughes & Hughes/Irish Independent Novel of the Year. He now lives in Clones.