Description

**A BOOK OF 2023 IN IRISH TIMES, RTE GUIDE AND SUNDAY INDEPENDENT**

An unforgettable and sweeping interwar love story, from the Costa-shortlisted and bestselling Irish author of Life Sentences

‘Gorgeous’ SARA BAUME
‘His most ambitious work to date’ JOHN BANVILLE
‘A beautiful, layered novel’ ELAINE FEENEY

1980s Cork. Jack Shine discovers a shoe box full of love letters in his mother’s belongings. Rebekah came to Cork alone as a young Jewish refugee from Vienna when the Second World War broke out. She died soon after, and Jack never learned of his father’s identity. Why did she keep newspaper clippings about a famous footballer player? Who was ‘The Paper Man’?

As Jack uncovers his mother’s life, he is transported to 1930s Vienna, a bustling city on the brink of war. At the heart of the action is Matthias Sindelar, one of the most famous footballers in the world, known as ‘The Paper Man’ because of his effortless weave across the pitch. When Sindelar unexpectedly meets Rebekah, both of their lives are changed forever. As war looms, they must accept that their survival will tear them apart.

Based on true events, The Paper Man is the story of twentieth-century Europe and love against the odds. It is a story that will take Jack far from Cork and all the way back to Vienna, and towards The Paper Man.

Publisher Review

Imaginative, beautifully told… Billy O’Callaghan arranges the story superbly * Spectator * As the moving story unspools, O’Callaghan proves himself the most engaging of storytellers * Daily Mail * The Paper Man is Billy O’Callaghan’s most ambitious work to date, and it fulfils its ambitions magnificently. Exciting, moving, perceptive and wonderfully entertaining — John Banville, author of The Sea A beautiful, layered novel about love, football and family. As the world falls apart in its darkest hours, this story tells of a life so bright, it echoes on into the generations: so that even in tragedy, there is always hope — Elaine Feeney, author of As You Were Gorgeous. Billy O’Callaghan writes with such a spirit of warmth about the darkest of subjects — Sara Baume, author of A Line Made by Walking