Description

The debut novel from National Book Award winner and Booker nominee Colum McCann

‘Colum McCann conjures a hugely inventive debut’ Observer

‘McCann writes equally well about Ireland, America and Mexico, and he links past and present in a finely woven narrative: Songdogs is a vivid, beautifully measured book’ Sunday Times
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Colum McCann’s first novel goes back to the years before the Spanish Civil War, following the adventures of a peripatetic Irish photographer from the war-strewn shores of Europe to the exotic plains of Mexico.

The story is told in the words of the photographer’s only son, a wanderer himself, who uses his father’s unreliable memories and the fading remnants of his art to piece together his family history and explain the mystery surrounding his mother – a Mexican beauty brought back by his father to Ireland.

Publisher Review

Colum McCann conjures a hugely inventive debut * Observer * McCann writes intense, gripping prose full of sharp and telling details. He can draw a complete psychological portrait from the most minor situations ... Songdogs is an exciting book, because it vibrates with the energy of a new writer finding his voice * Times Literary Supplement * A true work of art * Sunday Tribune * Potent, sometimes astonishing, fuelled by a unique descriptive vision - the simplicity and power of the final two pages of Songdogs form one of the most technically and lyrically accomplished conclusions to a novel, debut or otherwise, I have ever read * Sunday Independent * Songdogs is an event in Irish writing * Irish Independent * An arresting new voice from out of Ireland, at once deep and dazzling -- Edna O'Brien Powerful ... wistful and gracefully shadowed ... The author has a keen eye and ear; his language is full of sparkling poetry and images * New York Times Book Review * Positively vibrates ... consistently engaging ... remarkably beautiful * Sunday Globe * McCann has unusual control over his material ... McCann's take on the New World is fresh and often amusing, but what we remember most is the poignancy * Los Angeles Times Book Review *