The Glorious Heresies

A Novel

By: Lisa McInerney

Narrated by: Shelley Atkinson

Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2016 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and the Desmond Elliott Prize
Shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the Irish Book Awards
Longlisted for the 2016 International Dylan Thomas Prize
The Irish Times March Book of the Month

From Lisa McInerney, hailed by The Irish Times as “arguably the most talented writer at work in Ireland today,” comes The Glorious Heresies, a searing debut novel about life on the fringes of Ireland’s post-crash society.

When grandmother Maureen Phelan is surprised in her home by a stranger, she clubs the intruder with a Holy Stone. The consequences of this unplanned murder connect four misfits struggling against their meager circumstances. Ryan is a fifteen-year-old drug dealer desperate not to turn out like his alcoholic father, Tony, whose feud with his next-door neighbor threatens to ruin his family. Georgie is a sex worker who half-heartedly joins a born-again movement to escape her profession and drug habit. And Jimmy Phelan, the most fearsome gangster in the city and Maureen’s estranged son, finds that his mother’s bizarre attempts at redemption threaten his entire organization.

Biting and darkly funny, The Glorious Heresies presents an unforgettable vision of a city plagued by poverty and exploitation, where salvation still awaits in the most unexpected places.

— New York Time's Book Review's "10 Best Crime Novels" of the year

©2016 Lisa McInerney (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

Winner of the 2016 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and the Desmond Elliott Prize

Shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the Irish Book Awards

Longlisted for the 2016 International Dylan Thomas Prize

The Irish Times March Book of the Month

" The Glorious Heresies is a blisteringly good debut which manifests the true coming of a brilliant new energy in Irish fiction. It's a love story which captures perfectly the feeling of what it is to be young and bowled over by the beauty of another; it's the story of a city, savage and hilarious and coursing deeper and deeper, with every page into that city's dark veins. It's so much more. It's talent, undeniable and aglow." (Belinda McKeon)

"

The Glorious Heresies heralds the arrival of a glorious, foul-mouthed, fizzing new talent." (

The Sunday Times)

Extraordinary

Heartbreaking, beautiful and so well written, these characters will be with me for a long time.

Loved this story!

Where does The Glorious Heresies rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Definitely top 10

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ryan - because in a place with a bunch of degenerates, he's struggling to become a man and he might have a shot. I just found myself really rooting for him!

Any additional comments?

This book kept me captivated because there were several different life stories and narratives going on - and all of them interesting.

Best listen of the year! And it's December!

This has to be the best book I've listened to this year, and it just might be the best ever. And I've read SO many good ones this year. The narrator makes the book. I can't even imagine how it might read. She did such a fabulous job with the different voices and the emotions. And the writing! I can see why the Irish Times called Lisa McInerney "arguably the most talented writer at work in Ireland today." Definitely one of the most talented authors working anywhere today.

I rarely listen so carefully to a book, but I didn't want to miss a thing. The dialogues are some of the best I've heard. When Maureen tells off the Catholic priest, I just stopped what I was doing until she was done and then paused it to try to take it all in. The descriptions and metaphors are original and spot on. And it was funny, and dark, and gut-wrenching, and hopeful. The only other author I've 'read' who has such compassion for their characters is Russell Banks. I wait with a child-like, Christmas morning excitement for the next book from Lisa McInerney!

What a story...

This plot is like a rushing stream. It just does not stop.
The main characters--Ryan, Tony, Maureen, Georgie, even Jimmy--are all deeply flawed, and yet I rooted for each of them. Even the weak characters have a kind of defiant strength that pulls the story along.
The butterfly effect and the half-mad crone are time-honored literary traditions. But Lisa McInerney's touch is so light that you almost don't notice the story's scaffolding until the near-end.
Many current authors seem incapable of ending novels gracefully. The body of the story may be good enough, but the conclusions seem thrown together.
Not here. The denoument is nothing I would have imagined. It rounds out the story like a good after-dinner brandy. Oh, and pay attention to Maureen's coda.
Shelley Atkinson's narration is pitch-perfect. She even sounds true as she does the angry and the weepy passages.
Here's hoping for more stories from McInerney. And if they're narrated by Atkinson, so much the better.

Cork noir at it's finest

If Cork noir was a thing (and it may well be) this would be Cork noir at its finest.

"We're all gods when we **bleeping** feel like it."

A brilliantly dark and funny tale with a small cast of expertly drawn and developed characters.

Loved this book!

I was enthralled by the world and the exceptional use of poetic language. I have recommended it to many people and will continue to do so!

Hard to understand the Cork accent

If you want authentic Ireland voice, this is the book for you. There was so much use of the F word, I couldn't get past it. I couldn't figure out where I could even listen to this book unless I had headphones on.
I quit after about half hour.
It had good reviews but in my world this is not reL. way too much derogatory language and in a City Cork accent, which even the Irish can't understand.