The Fields

We'd never seen anything like that around our place before. Not right in front of our eyes. You always heard about it, though. Through friends of friends. Or when The Mothers got together for coffee mornings. They'd sit around in a steamy kitchen circle like four mad witches, and dip ginger-snaps into Maxwell House until they went wobbly-warm, and take turns at saying, Jahear about so-and-so, Lord rest his soul, only thirty years old, poor creature ! They were brilliant at it. Scaring the shite out of each other, grinning inside.

Jim Finnegan is thirteen years old and life in his world consists of dealing with the helter-skelter intensity of his rumbustious family, taking breakneck bike rides with his best friend, and coveting the local girls from afar - until one day when everything changes.

THE FIELDS is an unforgettable story of an extraordinary character: Jim's voice leaps off the page and straight into the reader's heart as he grapples with his unfairly interrupted adolescence.

Short-listed for Portsmouth First Fiction Award 2013 (UK)
Short-listed for Authors' Club Best First Novel 2014 (UK)
Long-listed for Desmond Elliott Prize 2013 (UK)

“The Fields is a powerful comic debut”

The Fields introduces Jim Finnegan, the youngest in his family with five raucous sisters. It has all the energy and fun of Roddy Doyle's early novels...but then Jim meets the local beauty, Saidhbh, and things take a turn for the modern - Independent on Sunday's Pick of 2013

Dublin in the 1980s - our hero Jim Finnegan, youngest in a family with five sisters, has his life changed by love and the challenges he faces at the hands of 'Father'. Funny, inventive debut. - The Times Culture picks for 2013

Kevin Maher was born and brought up in Dublin, moving to London in 1994 to begin a career in journalism. He wrote for the Guardian, the Observer and Time Out and was film editor of the Face until 2002, before joining The Times where for the last eight years he has been a feature writer, critic and columnist.

We'd never seen anything like that around our place before. Not right in front of our eyes. You always heard about it, though. Through friends of friends. Or when The Mothers got together for coffee mornings. They'd sit around in a steamy kitchen circle like four mad witches, and dip ginger-snaps into Maxwell House until they went wobbly-warm, and take turns at saying, Jahear about so-and-so, Lord rest his soul, only thirty years old, poor creature?! They were brilliant at it. Scaring the shite out of each other, grinning inside. Jim Finnegan is thirteen years old and life in his world consists of dealing with the helter-skelter intensity of his rumbustious family, taking breakneck bike rides with his best friend, and coveting the local girls from afar - until one day when everything changes. The Fields is an unforgettable story of an extraordinary character: Jim's voice leaps off the page and straight into the reader's heart as he grapples with his unfairly interrupted adolescence. Praise for The Fields 'Fresh, beguiling and laugh-out-loud funny on every page, this must be the most enjoyable Irish novel since Skippy Dies .' Justine Jordan, Guardian 'I absolutely LOVED The Fields by Kevin Maher. It's very funny, very moving and spot-on in its depiction of growing up in Dublin in 1984' John Boyne, bestselling author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas 'A joy to read, fresh, funny, moving and always unexpected' Kate Atkinson ' Black comedy and infinite narrative energy... reminiscent of some of Patrick McCabe's work.' Sunday Business Post, Ireland

We'd never seen anything like that around our place before. Not right in front of our eyes. You always heard about it, though. Through friends of friends. Or when The Mothers got together for coffee mornings. They'd sit around in a steamy kitchen circle like four mad witches, and dip ginger-snaps into Maxwell House until they went wobbly-warm, and take turns at saying, Jahear about so-and-so, Lord rest his soul, only thirty years old, poor creature ! They were brilliant at it. Scaring the shite out of each other, grinning inside. Jim Finnegan is thirteen years old and life in his world consists of dealing with the helter-skelter intensity of his rumbustious family, taking breakneck bike rides with his best friend, and coveting the local girls from afar - until one day when everything changes.THE FIELDS is an unforgettable story of an extraordinary character: Jim's voice leaps off the page and straight into the reader's heart as he grapples with his unfairly interrupted adolescence.

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