Malarky: A Novel in Epipodes - Paperback

by Anakana Schofield (Author)

WINNER OF THE AMAZON.CA FIRST NOVEL AWARD, 2013
WINNER OF THE DEBUT-LITZER PRIZE, 2013
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ETHEL WILSON FICTION PRIZE
A NEW STATESMAN READ-ALL-ABOUT-IT SELECTION FOR 2012
A BARNES & NOBLE DISCOVER GREAT NEW WRITERS PICK, 2012
A SALON.COM WHAT-TO-READ AWARD-WINNER, 2012
A TOP FIVE BOOK PICK, CHATELAINE
AN iTUNES CANADA BEST OF 2012 FICTION PICK
AN AMAZON.CA BEST BOOK OF 2012 EDITOR'S PICK
A LARGEHEARTED BOY FAVORITE NOVEL OF 2012
A NEXT BEST BOOK BLOG TOP 3, 2012

A caustic, funny and moving fantasia of an Irish mammy going round the bend.
--Emma Donoghue, author of ROOM

Our Woman will not be sunk by what life's about to serve her. She's caught her son doing unmentionable things out by the barn. She's been accosted by Red the Twit, who claims to have done things with Our Woman's husband that could frankly have gone without mentioning. And now her son's gone and joined the army, and Our Woman has found a young fella to do unmentionable things with herself, just so she might understand it all...

Malarky is the story of an Irish mother forced to look grief in the eye, and of a wife come face-to-face with the mad agony of longing. Comic, moving, eccentric, and spare, Anakana Schofield's debut novel introduces a brilliant new voice in contemporary fiction.

Further Praise for Malarky

AN EDMONTON JOURNAL FAVOURITE FOR 2012
A THREE-TIME BEST-OF-THE-YEAR GEORGIA STRAIGHT SELECTION

Anakana Schofield is part of a new wave of wonderful Irish fiction--international in scope and electrically alive.--Colum McCann

Malarky is a terrific read, a brilliant collision of heartbreak and hilarity written in a voice that somehow seems both feral and perfectly controlled. Anakana Schofield's Our Woman takes a cool nod at Joyce, then goes her own way in one of the most moving and lyrical debut novels I've read.--Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins

We become comfortable saying that there's nothing new, and then something like Malarky comes along, which is new and old and different and familiar, but ultimately itself, comfortable in its own skin, wise and smart and crazy-sexy or maybe sexy-crazy--well, you just have to read it to understand. It's a novel that sets its own course, sure and steady, even when it seems like it might be about to go over the edge of the world.--Laura Lippman

This is the story of Anakana Schofield's teapot-wielding 'Our Woman': fretful mother, disgruntled farmwife, and--surprisingly late in life--sexual outlaw/anthropologist. Everything about this primly raunchy, uproarious novel is unexpected--each draught poured from the teapot marks another moment of pure literary audacity.
--Lynn Coady, author of The Antagonist

Anyone bold enough to name her book after a word so loaded deserves our attention. In Malarky Schofield pulls her long line tight--and lets go when we least expect it.--Michael Turner, author of Hard Core Logo

Malarky spins and glitters like a coin flipped in the air--now searingly tragic, now blackly funny. The language is joyful and exuberant, the characters thoughtful and deeply felt. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.--Annabel Lyon

Good writing and dark wit always excite me and they come together thrillingly in this book. It has a quiet grip on the strangeness of the interior and exterior worlds of love and politics. I delighted in the writing and the scope.--Jenny Diski

Anakana Schofield is an Irish Canadian writer of fiction, drama, essays, and criticism. She contributes to the London Review of Books and The Globe and Mail (among others). She has lived in London, Dublin, and Vancouver; Malarky is her first novel.

Front Jacket

Advance Praise for Malarky

"Good writing and dark wit always excite me and they come together thrillingly in this book. It has a quiet grip on the strangeness of the interior and exterior worlds of love and politics and their inextricability. I delighted in the writing and the scope - macro and microscopic."--Jenny Diski

"Malarky spins and glitters like a coin flipped in the air--now searingly tragic, now blackly funny. The language is joyful and exuberant, the characters thoughtful and deeply felt. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant." --Annabel Lyon

With Malarky, Anakana Schofield has delivered a character as extraordinary as Brecht's Mother Courage, and a domestic situation that rivals Beckett's Endgame for its stagnant and sorrowful absurdity.

Our Woman Philomena has just caught her son Jimmy in the barn with another man. She's been accosted by Red the Twit, who energetically discloses the infidelities--real, imagined, or in any event peculiar--of Our Woman's husband.

Swamped by a confusion she refuses to let overcome her, Philomena embarks on rural odyssey that skirts madness, passes through grief, and returns her to the remarkable resilience of spirit that will make Our Woman the character of the decade. Schofield's wicked humour is everywhere apparent, and Malarky, brilliantly drawn in the cadences of contemporary Ireland, is an absolutely peerless tour-de-force.

Anakana Schofield is an Irish-Canadian writer of fiction, drama, essays, and literary criticism. She contributes to the London Review of Books, The Recorder: The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, the Globe & Mail, and the Vancouver Sun. She has lived in London and Dublin, and now resides in Vancouver. Malarky is her first novel.

Back Jacket

Advance Praise for Malarky

Good writing and dark wit always excite me and they come together thrillingly in this book. It has a quiet grip on the strangeness of the interior and exterior worlds of love and politics and their inextricability. I delighted in the writing and the scope - macro and microscopic.--Jenny Diski

Malarky spins and glitters like a coin flipped in the air--now searingly tragic, now blackly funny. The language is joyful and exuberant, the characters thoughtful and deeply felt. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. --Annabel Lyon

With Malarky, Anakana Schofield has delivered a character as extraordinary as Brecht's Mother Courage, and a domestic situation that rivals Beckett's Endgame for its stagnant and sorrowful absurdity.

Our Woman Philomena has just caught her son Jimmy in the barn with another man. She's been accosted by Red the Twit, who energetically discloses the infidelities--real, imagined, or in any event peculiar--of Our Woman's husband.

Swamped by a confusion she refuses to let overcome her, Philomena embarks on rural odyssey that skirts madness, passes through grief, and returns her to the remarkable resilience of spirit that will make Our Woman the character of the decade. Schofield's wicked humour is everywhere apparent, and Malarky, brilliantly drawn in the cadences of contemporary Ireland, is an absolutely peerless tour-de-force.

Anakana Schofield is an Irish-Canadian writer of fiction, drama, essays, and literary criticism. She contributes to the London Review of Books, The Recorder: The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, the Globe & Mail, and the Vancouver Sun. She has lived in London and Dublin, and now resides in Vancouver. Malarky is her first novel.

Author Biography

Anakana Schofield: Anakana Schofield is an Irish-Canadian writer of fiction, essays, and literary criticism. She contributes to the London Review of Books, The Recorder: The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, the Globe & Mail, and the Vancouver Sun. She has lived in London and Dublin, and now resides in Vancouver. Malarky is her first novel.