Nobber: 'A bloody and brilliant first novel'

Nobber is a dark and bloody tale set in 1348 Ireland, following an ambitious noble and his three serving men as they travel through the countryside, encountering Nobber, a tiny town with an egotistical bureaucrat, his volatile wife, a naked blacksmith, and a beautiful Gaelic hostage. As these groups converge upon the town, a deadly stand-off emerges, with no one escaping unscathed. The novel is praised for its vivid language, humor, and dramatic climax, and is set to become an Irish cult classic.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 29 October 2020
Publisher: John Murray Press

Nobber is a novel that has been longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. It is a writer who is out to do whatever the hell he wants, and it is a grisly, gross-out slice of medieval life and death that is vigorously, writhingly itself, spilling out of any box you put it in. The Observer describes it as a dark and bloody tale, well leavened with bone-dry humor, and with a dramatic climax that has the flavor of a Jacobean tragedy. The Guardian predicts that it will become an Irish cult classic. The Sunday Business Post calls it a tremendously engaging and fun read, and Kevin Barry describes it as a crazed, quixotic odyssey.

The novel is set in the stifling summer of 1348, and it follows the ambitious noble and his three serving men as they travel through the Irish countryside. They come upon Nobber, a tiny town whose only living habitants seem to be an egotistical bureaucrat, his volatile wife, a naked blacksmith, and a beautiful Gaelic hostage. Meanwhile, a band of marauding Gaels are roaming around, using the confusion of the sickness to pillage and reclaim lands that once belonged to them.

As these groups converge upon the town, the habitants, who up until this point have been under strict curfew, begin to stir from their dwellings, demanding answers from the intruders. A deadly stand-off emerges from which no one will escape unscathed. Nobber is hallucinatory and sly, conjuring a densely strange and savagely captivating world. There are lots of novels, and there are lots of novels that are all much alike, but there is nothing like Nobber. Colin Barrett is a skilled storyteller with a rich command of language and rare comedic flair. The Irish Times describes him as a master of the comic novel.

Weight: 216g
Dimension: 129 x 196 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529329810