“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Remembrance Of Almond Buns Past

Philip Davison’s (right) The Book-Thief’s Heartbeat (1981) is one of our favourite novels of Dublin, a snapshot of a time and place long gone ever since the Celtic Tiger chewed up and spat out the old Bewley’s on Grafton Street, haven to its hero, the job-dodging, almond bun-scoffing Oliver Power. Students looking to write a thesis on the impact of the Celtic Tiger on Irish fiction might want to consider Davison as a subject: The Book-Thief’s Heartbeat was a beautifully weighted piece of whimsical comedy which sank without a trace, while his crime writing has gone from strength to strength in the last decade. “Each word in this bleakly humorous novel promises to explode and bring light to the shadows. Philip Davison’s control is that of a spymaster, deftly arranging inconspicuous elements into a thrilling whole ... Davison never fails to surprise, compel and intrigue with dry philosophy and grim wit,” reckoned the Times Literary Review of A Burnable Town (2006), while the Independent on Sunday weighed in with “Davison is at his best when he’s writing about the nuances of human behaviour … some thoroughly compelling scenes … cracking dialogue.” So when is Davison – variously compared to Graham Greene, Sam Beckett and John Le CarrĂ© – likely to grace us with the fifth instalment in his globe-trotting Harry Fielding series? Give us a call, Phil: we’ll hook up in Bewley’s for an almond bun.

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