The Glorious Heresies

A Novel

By: Lisa McInerney

Narrated by: Shelley Atkinson

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

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.

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!

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.

Great Book

I listen to 5-10 books per month on Audible and this is one of the best books I've heard in a looong time. the narration is fantastic, the characters are well fleshed and full of life. This book struck chords in the same way as Freedom by Jonathan Franzen for me.

Extraordinary

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