Description

WINNER of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2023

WINNER of the John McGahern Prize 2023

‘Unputdownable . . . one of the best novels of the year’ Sunday Independent

* * *

In the seaside town of Tramore, County Waterford, visitors arrive in waves with the tourist season, reliving the best days of their childhoods in its caravan parks, chippers and amusement arcades.

Local teenager Helen Grant is indifferent to the charm of her surroundings; she dreams of escaping to art college with her glamorous classmate Stella Swaine and, from there, taking on the world. But leaving Tramore is easier said than done. Though they don’t yet know it, Helen and Stella’s lives are pulled by tides beyond their control.

Following the Grant and Swaine families and their neighbours over three decades, The Amusements is a luminous and unforgettable story about roads taken and not taken – and a brilliantly observed portrait of a small-town community.

* * *

‘THIS BOOK is EVERYTHING’ Marian Keyes

‘Flannery’s flawed, hopeful characters live and grow on the page’ ANNE ENRIGHT, author of The Gathering

‘Quietly beautiful . . . Flannery’s characters are very well drawn, as is her understanding of small-town mores and idle gossip. It’s a book that leaves and impression long after the final page’ IRISH INDEPENDENT

‘Effortless, perceptive, and hugely entertaining – I loved it’ DONAL RYAN, author of Strange Flowers

‘A cracker of a book’ KATHLEEN MAC MAHON, author of Nothing But Blue Sky

‘Fantastic . . . we were gripped’ STELLAR

‘If you like dark humour, superbly drawn characters, caravan parks, fish suppers and slot machines, The Amusements is what you’ve been waiting for’ JAN CARSON, author of The Fire Starters

‘A joy to read’ LOUISE NEALON, author of Snowflake

‘A brilliant book. I loved meeting all these characters, who jumped off the page and stayed in my head’ ROISIN INGLE

‘Brilliant. Dramatic, heartfelt, sometimes shocking and sad’ IRISH EXAMINER

Publisher Review

If you like dark humour, superbly drawn characters, caravan parks, fish suppers and slot machines, The Amusements is what you've been waiting for -- Jan Carson Brilliant. Dramatic, heartfelt, sometimes shocking and sad -- Sue Leonard * Irish Examiner * Unputdownable . . . one of the best novels of the year -- Estelle Birdy * Sunday Independent * The writing, so true to small-town life, is both shrewd and enlarging. Flannery writes like a grown-up; her flawed, hopeful characters live and grow on the page -- Anne Enright Its effortless evocations of the tides and pulls of small-town life are note perfect . . . It's often very funny, sometimes sad, always authentic and perceptive, and hugely entertaining. Beautiful -- Donal Ryan