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Young Skins by Colin Barrett
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Young Skins

by Colin Barrett
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Narrator Jack Reynolds

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Length 5 hours 26 minutes
Language English
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Brought to you by Penguin.

*Winner of the 2014 Guardian First Book Award
*Winner of the 2014 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
*Winner of the 2014 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature

This magnificent collection takes us to Glanbeigh, a small town in rural Ireland - a town in which the youth have the run of the place. Boy racers speed down the back lanes; couples haunt the midnight woods; young skins huddle in the cold once The Peacock has closed its doors. Here the young live hard and wear the scars. It matters whose sister you were seen with. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, it matters a very great deal.

Colin Barrett's debut does not take us to Glanbeigh alone; there are other towns, and older characters. But each story is defined by a youth lived in a crucible of menace and desire - and each crackles with the uniform energy and force that distinguish this terrific collection.

© Colin Barrett 2014 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

FictionShort Stories

Colin Barrett grew up in County Mayo, Ireland. His stories have been published in the Stinging Fly, Granta, Harper's and the New Yorker. His first book, the short story collection Young Skins, won the Guardian First Book Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His second collection, Homesickness, made the New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year and was a Book of the Year in Oprah Daily and the Irish Times.

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Audiobook details

Author:

Narrator:
Jack Reynolds

ISBN:
9781473587618

Length:
5 hours 26 minutes

Language:
English

Publisher:
Random House

Publication date:

Edition:
Unabridged

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The perfect last-minute gift

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Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

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Reviews

Colin Barrett's sentences are lyrical and tough and smart, but there is something more here that makes him a really good writer. His stories are set in a familiar emotional landscape, but they give us endings that are new. What seems to be about sorrow and foreboding turns into an adventure, instead, in the tender art of the unexpected. Language, structure, style - Colin Barrett has all the weapons at his disposal, and how, and he has an intuitive sense for what a short story is, and what it can do. Colin Barrett is a young man in the town of the short story, but it’s fair to say he has the run of the place. This is a joyously fine collection, crackling with energy and verve, fit for the back pocket of anyone who loves a good story well told. Magnificent...A stunning debut... The timeless nature of each story means this collection can - and will - be read many years from now. Incredible… Human violence, beauty, brilliance of language – this book reminds you of the massive things you can do in short fiction. Expand reviews
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