Jack Sammon waits in jail on remand for a horrific crime that has scarred the community, wrestling with his memory and scribbling the details of his life in a school copy-book. Jack grows up on a small farm in a close-knit west of Ireland community with his mother, older brother and baby sister. He might have overcome the untimely death of his father, had his mother’s disastrous choice of a second partner not alienated the support of their neighbours – an act that sets Jack on a risky path. He is drawn to local eccentric Irene, who reveals to him secrets about his family that will shake him to his core. Full of pathos and humour, and evocative of John Banville’s The Book of Evidence and of John McGahern in its detailed portrayal of rural life, The Boy in the Gap is a beautifully wrought, haunting debut.
