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SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOT PRIZE 2022

‘Utterly original … A bolt from the blue for Irish writing’ Niamh Campbell, winner of the Rooney Prize for This Happy

‘A queer underworld Thelma & Louise with better jokes’ Sarah Moss

‘This year’s most ambitious and well-written debut’ Irish Independent

When Dundalk underworld regular Aoife brings the wild and magnetic Annie to the Town, her desire to love and cling to this dangerous stranger culminates in a road trip through Britain to dispose of ten kilos of cocaine for her business partner, The Rat King. But when Annie decides not to return to Ireland, Aoife makes a decision that changes everything.

Tender, tragic but ultimately hopeful, Iron Annie is a breakneck journey that crackles with energy, warmth and heart, and marks the arrival of a truly original new voice in literary fiction.

‘Written in an exhilarating, lyrical vernacular, in much the way of Anna Burns, Kevin Barry or even Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting’ Daily Mail

Publisher Review

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 * 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. Terrific * Daily Mail * [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 * Absolutely brilliant. Fizzes with energy - and with raunchiness, colour, beauty, and insight * Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner * What an exquisite novel Iron Annie is. The narrative voice fair crackles: it's full of wonder, grit, insight, sadness and joy, and is quite beautiful. And Aoife is one of those fictional characters that arrives only once or twice in an age, sublimely rendered and completely unforgettable. -- Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart and From a Low and Quiet Sea Iron Annie is absolutely everything I love in a book. The energy, the voice, the language, the characters, all real, raw and utterly convincing. Luke Cassidy is an incredible talent, with an ear for language to rival that of Kevin Barry, I could hear every single word. * Fiona Scarlett, author of Boys Don't Cry * Wonderful, imaginative, highly original emotional rollercoaster of a story -- Peter James Iron Annie is a novel full of grit and pearls - its language crackles with life. Luke Cassidy is a writer with a keen eye and a finely-tuned ear -- Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul Utterly original ... I think this book is like a bolt from the blue for Irish writing -- Niamh Campbell, author of This Happy. 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 It's wild and fierce and full of awful life. Also dead funny . . . This needs to be slapped on the arse and let out snorting into the world like a mustang horse -- Niall Griffiths, author of Grits, Sheepshagger and Stump 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, author of Poster Child, The Still Point of the Turning World, Cartography for Cripples and 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 the wild love and sex - it's the language. I've never read anything like the sentences in here. -- Rachel DeWoskin, author of Banshee, Big Girl Small, and Foreign Babes in Beijing Brave and fearless ... Put me in the mind of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting ... It snaps and crackles. * Claudia Carroll, Eason Books Club * Amazing first novel filled with drugs and sex and rock and roll ... It's so dense and rich. I'm dying to see the play. * Keith Walsh, Eason Book Club *