Fanny Hawke Goes to the Mainland Forever

by Sebastian Barry

61 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Sebastian Barry is an Irish playwright, novelist and poet. He is noted for his dense literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers

Barry's literary career began in poetry before he began writing plays and novels. In recent years his fiction writing has surpassed his work in the theatre in terms of success, having once been considered a playwright who wrote occasional novels.

He has twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novels A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), the latter of which won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His 2011 novel On Canaan's Side was long-listed for the Booker. He won the Costa Book of the Year again - in 2017 for Days Without End.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection that begins very weakly, but takes a turn for the better with "Rudiments of Tailoring," and impresses, for the most part, there on out. I loved that "Kelsha Yard, 1959" is essentially sketches in verse of scenes Barry fleshes out in prose later in his career in the gorgeous novel Annie Dunne.