Memoir: Cillian Murphy: 'One of the greatest Irish writers’

With a new foreword by Yiyun Li, this beloved memoir of an Irish childhood by the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of classics like Amongst Women is a 'healing book' (Sebastian Barry)

'McGahern is about as close as we get to Proust.' Guardian

I am sure it is from those days that I take the belief that the best of life is life lived quietly, where nothing happens but our calm journey through the day, where change is imperceptible and the precious life is everything.

Through the sun-dappled mazes of Irish country lanes, a little boy walks with his mother, naming the tangled wildflowers together - a memory that will inspire the rest of his life.

This is the story of John McGahern's childhood: his mother's death, his father's tyrannical violence, his encounters with religion, and how, through his discovery of reading, his dream of becoming a writer began.

'A master.' Kevin Barry
'Timeless.' Sinéad Gleeson
'Extraordinary.' Colin Walsh
‘Blew me away.’ Colin Barrett
'A great writer.' Sebastian Barry
'Exquisite.' Andrew Michael Hurley
'Elegiac and graceful.' David Mitchell
'A glowing masterpiece.' Hilary Mantel
'The Irish novelist everyone should read.' Colm Tóibín
‘The preeminent Irish writer of his generation.’ Anne Enright
'I’m grateful for every sentence he left in this world.' Donal Ryan

• Publication date: 30 July 2026
• Page count: 368
• Dimensions: Height 196 mm; Width 130 mm; Thickness 27 mm
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN-13: 9780571399482