Iron Annie Paperback – January 11, 2022 by Luke Cassidy

Description

Author: Cassidy Luke

Color: Celadon/Pale green

Package Dimensions: 17x203x227

Number Of Pages: 320

Release Date: 11-01-2022

Details: Product Description
An uncompromising, darkly humorous look at life in the criminal underworld of the Irish border from a major new Irish literary voice.

Dundalk—The Town, to locals—took Aoife in when she left home at eighteen. Now she’s gone from a small-time slinger of hash to a bona fide player in Dundalk’s criminal underworld. Aoife’s smart, savvy, and cool under pressure. Except, that is, when it comes to Annie. Annie is mysterious and compelling, and Aoife is desperate to impress her and keep her close. Unfortunately, not everyone in The Town shares Aoife’s opinion of Annie. So much so that when Aoife’s friend and associate, the Rat King, approaches her about off-loading ten kilos of stolen coke, he specifically tells her to keep Annie out of it. Aoife doesn’t want to do the job without Annie, though, so she lands on an idea. Annie has contacts in the UK, and sure it’d be better to get the coke as far away from Dundalk as possible. At first, everything goes to plan. But when Annie decides she’d like to stay in the UK, Aoife makes a decision that changes everything, and finds her whole world turned upside down.

Gritty yet tender, tragic yet hopeful,
Iron Annie crackles with energy, warmth, and heart.

A VINTAGE CRIME/BLACK LIZARD ORIGINAL.

Review
“A vibrant, profane narrative of heartwarming criminality.”
—
Kirkus Reviews

“With his rich language, Cassidy lands in the company of Kevin Barry, Roddy Doyle, and other notable bards of the Irish demimonde.”
—
Publishers Weekly

“A queer underworld
Thelma & Louise with better jokes. . . . Very funny. . . . Cassidy keeps tight control of a story that’s simultaneously state of the nation, romance and crime.”
—Sarah Moss,
Irish Times

“Terrific. . . . Written in an exhilarating, lyrical vernacular, in much the way of Anna Burns, Kevin Barry or even Irvine Welsh’s
Trainspotting. . . . Aoife is a character redeemed to a large extent by her extraordinary narrative voice, yet Cassidy also summons up an entire small-town world here, one that’s both fiercely informed by under-the-radar community bonds and at the mercy of wider seismic political forces.”
—
Daily Mail (UK)

“[A] heady experience, infused with humour and grief. Aoife and Annie are fascinating. . . . All of the characters are gloriously vivid but entirely believable. The Town and its underbelly are starkly yet lovingly described. This is probably this year’s most ambitious and well-written debut. ‘Mon the Town.”
—Estelle Birdy,
Irish Independent

“[A] barnstorming gangland comedy set among a motley band of drug-runners from Dundalk, Ireland, where debut author Luke Cassidy was born. . . . Cassidy’s ingenious use of rhythm and phonetics make Aoife’s voice sing from the page. . . .
Iron Annie is a blast—tender and brutal, funny and sad. It also has interesting things to say about hot topics such as gender and Ireland’s relationship with post-Brexit Britain. Above all, though, it’s a spectacular feat of firecracker prose. Not to be missed. . . . A full-spectrum thrill from a first-time novelist who looks destined for great things.”
—
Metro (UK)

“Absolutely brilliant. Fizzes with energy—and with raunchiness, colour, beauty, and insight.”
—Sue Leonard,
Irish Examiner

“It’s apparent from the opening lines of
Iron Annie that Luke Cassidy can write. His prose fizzes with energy and music, and the reader is immediately plunged into the anarchic underbelly of Ireland and the lives of Cassidy’s vivid characters.”
—Graeme Macrae Burnet, author of
His Bloody Project
“
Iron Annie marks the arrival of a fresh and compelling young voice in literary fiction. . . . These complex, funny, tender, lewd and lovely characters will grab you by the throat from the first line and dare you to stop reading.”
—Emily Rapp Black,
New York Times bestselling author of
Sanctuary

Iron Annie is a staggering debut novel. And what makes it so stylish and ferocious isn’t the drugs, the brutal violence, or even t