Book description
An ambitious and compelling first novel about a key moment in Irish history.
November 1917. With tensions in Ireland, war in Europe and revolution
in Russia, Victor Lennon returns to his home village after a long exile.
Radicalised by his experiences in the Dublin Lockout and Easter Rising,
Victor is a hero to many but a danger to some.
Those closest to Victor know his true nature: his father, Pius, now
drinking himself to death; his oldest friend, Charlie, wounded in the
trenches; and the love of his life, Maggie, who he left behind years
before. But soon Victor and the fearsome parish priest, Stanislaus
Benedict, are on a collision course, with the very souls of the people
caught between religion and socialism.
Told from the perspectives of these two equally strong-willed
characters, After the Lockout is a first novel of tremendous ambition
and achievement. At its heart is a conflict emblematic of a recurring
faultline in Irish history, and of one more eternal and universal:
between hope and experience; between ideals and human weakness. 'A
wonderful novel about what history has done to Ireland, and what Ireland
has done to history. The triumph is that it is not only deeply
intelligent and self-aware, but also entertaining from the first page to
the last.' Hilary Mantel
'With this one novel Darran McCann succeeds where many writers over an
entire career fail, laying claim to a terrain entirely his own. Spread
the word, Darran McCann has arrived.' Glenn Patterson
'Darran McCann drags Irish history out of the door by the hair. For the
first time we see the Catholic church being taken on, not with a
rear-view smugness but where it matters in an Ireland where power is
changing hands. This is a compelling story of a people attempting to
liberate themselves from authority.' Hugo Hamilton
'”After The Lockout” is a wholly original, vigorous and insightful
piece of writing. It recreates an era and its exigencies with robustness
and aplomb' Patricia Craig, TLS
'[”After the Lockout”] has an enemy in its sights and it goes for that
enemy, though without becoming shrill or impugning the humanity of the
clerical characters. Not enough first books have attitude, but this one
definitely does, and that's rather wonderful.' Irish Times Darran
McCann was born in Co. Armagh in 1979. He graduated from Trinity College
Dublin and Dublin City University before becoming a journalist with
Belfast's Irish News. He went on to write, teach and study at Queen's
University Belfast. His play, Confession, was produced at the Brian
Friel Theatre in Belfast in 2008. He lives in Ireland with his family.
