{"product_id":"9781843517009","title":"The History of Magpies","description":"\u003cp\u003e     \u003cem\u003e         ‘I've lived in this place for three years after returning from England.         There was an echo in the landscape at night that no one had patience         with, a voice trying to tell you something, trying to tell a story.’     \u003c\/em\u003e     (From 'The 'Metlar') \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e     Here are twelve scintillating fresh tales by one of Ireland's leading     writers, who has extended and redefined the tradition of the Irish short     story with inimitable verbal force. Embedded in Hogan’s uniquely glancing     poetic style, they form capsule character studies and micro-histories of     society's underbelly, variously located in the streets and back alleys of     Edinburgh, London, Zagreb, Cork, Dublin, and in the small rural townscape     provinces: Kerry to Limerick, Kinsale, Athlone and beyond, each refracted     in compressed jewels of painterly prose that explodes in kaldeiscopic     bursts \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e     of colour and imagery. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e     These stories are vividly peopled by young homosexuals, Travellers and     priests, borstal boys and joyriders, prisoners on remand, hostel dwellers,     drinkers and addicts, artisans and the unemployed, and treat their     marginalized lives with celebratory dispassion. The story titles alone     speak for their milieu: ‘The Big River,’ ‘Café Remember,’ ‘Through the     Town,’ “Brimstone Butterfly,’ ’Thornback Ray,’ ‘The Spindle Tree,’ ‘The     Metlar,’ ‘Walking Through Truth Land,’ and ‘Famine Rain.’ Here is a writer     at the top of his game, documenting an Ireland where few have dared to     tread. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lilliput Press, Limited, The","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47136006340848,"sku":"9781843517009","price":7.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781843517009_p0.jpg?v=1769893301","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781843517009","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}