The Ghost Factory

A powerful debut set in Belfast and London in the latter years of the twentieth century.

The Troubles turned Northern Ireland into a ghost factory: as the manufacturing industry withered, the death business boomed. In trying to come to terms with his father’s sudden death, and the attack on his harmless best friend Titch, Jacky is forced to face the bullies who still menace a city scarred by conflict. After he himself is attacked, he flees to London to build a new life. But even in the midst of a burgeoning love affair he hears the ghosts of his past echoing, pulling him back to Belfast, crying out for retribution and justice.

Written with verve and flair, and spiked with humour, The Ghost Factory marks the arrival of an auspicious new talent.

• An exciting new voice from Northern Ireland, that blends humour and gut-wrenching violence in a way reminiscent of Roddy Doyle and Patrick McCabe.

• A story about the echoes of the troubles, and the terror that continues to echo through Belfast. Like Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman it depicts the politics of the conflict as existential and inescapable.

Competition: Paddy Clarke, Hahaha; Modern Gods; The Good Son; Glorious Heresies; Eureka Street; Conversations with Friends; Making Sense of The Troubles. Roddy Doyle; Nick Laird; Paul McVeigh; Lisa McInerney; Robert McLiam Wilson; Sally Rooney; David McKitterick