The Abstainer

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‘Truly terrific' Richard Ford
'Dickens for the twenty-first century' Roddy Doyle
'A powerful, gripping tale' Sunday Times


A man hanging on by a thread.
A city about to snap.
 
From the acclaimed author of The North Water comes an epic story of revenge and obsession.
 
Manchester, 1867
 
Two men, haunted by their pasts.
Driven by the need for justice.
 
Blood begets blood.
In a fight for life and legacy.
 
Stephen Doyle arrives in Manchester from New York. He is an Irish-American veteran of the Civil War and a member of the Fenians, a secret society intent on ending British rule in Ireland, by any means necessary. Now he has come to seek vengeance.
 
James O'Connor has fled grief and drink in Dublin for a sober start in Manchester as Head Constable. His mission is to discover and thwart the Fenians’ plans. When his long-lost nephew arrives on his doorstep, he never could have foreseen how this would imperil his fragile new life – or how his and Doyle's fates would come to be intertwined. 
 
The rebels will be hanged at dawn, and their brotherhood is already plotting revenge.

 

Praise for The North Water, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016
 
‘Brilliant, fast-paced, gripping. A tour de force of narrative tension and a masterful reconstruction of a lost world’ Hilary Mantel
 
‘Utterly convincing and compelling… A startling achievement’ Martin Amis
 
‘Riveting and darkly brilliant… McGuire has an extraordinary talent’ Colm Toibin
 
‘Has exceptional power and energy’ Sunday Times
 
‘A stunning novel that snares the reader from the outset and keeps the tightest grip until the bitter end’ Financial Times
 
‘A vivid read, full of twists, turns, period detail and strong characters’ The Times
 
‘Terrific – McGuire’s use of the pitiless, fearsomely beautiful Arctic landscape as a theatre for enduring questions is inspired’ Daily Mail
 
‘McGuire has a sure and unwavering touch… a writer of exceptional craft and confidence’ Irish Times