The Book Corner: A new voice for our times

I Want To Go Home But I’m Already There, by Róisín Lanigan. Published by Fig Tree, €16.99

Here is a first novel by Róisín Lanigan that deals with one of the biggest issues facing people in today’s world, a blot on society most will say, but it does so not with any judgement of the problem but rather by looking at it from a different perspective. This is renting, and it can be a nightmare.

I Want To Go Home But I’m Already There is an intriguing title, and introduces us to the character of Áine. While the author’s own life involved renting in London, a situation that many readers will be familiar with, if only through the lens of a family member, I cannot imagine that she in any way resembles Áine, who emerges as a quite unsavoury human being. Lanigan’s writing is funny, astute, and right on the button.

While the story is sometimes sad, at times terrifying, and riddled with millennial anxiety and dread, the author does manage to find joy in small things, and the reader feels that they are present in every chapter, location and even know the people in the story.

While Áine and her boyfriend Elliott live in a smart area, surrounded by the chic world of bakeries, organic food shops and yoga studios, their flat is a nightmare; damp, draughty, with noisy neighbours and an eerie atmosphere.

Áine is living the now normal existence of ‘working from home’, though she clearly is not as productive as her employers might wish. As she plods her way through life, so it seems to disintegrate, leading to illness, panic attacks and a degree of paranoia.

With cracks literally in the ceiling of the flat, so too are they appearing in her relationship with the ever-patient Elliott. Áine’s depression is not helped by the happiness of her former flatmate Laura, who is planning her wedding.

Being unfaithful to Elliott is just one of the things about Áine that make us not feel any empathy for her desperate situation, and our negative attitude is fuelled too by her jealousies and constant state of complaining about everything. Áine is someone you would avoid in the real world.

Lanigan has taken a subject that is pretty common in these times, but turned it into a most readable volume of work. It is hard to believe it is a first novel, such is the quality of the writing. This is a young author who can claim to be a voice of her generation. Compelling, well written and very much of its time, this is a book that you will be unable to put down.

The classic

Pigs Have Wings by P.G. Wodehouse. Published by Penguin, €21.75

Described by none other than Douglas Adams as “the greatest comic writer ever” and in 1932 by Hilaire Belloc as “the best writer of English now alive”, P.G. Wodehouse was both talented and prolific.

As a young man he had a successful career in the theatre, writing more than 200 songs for dozens of musicals, many of which are still instantly recognisable. He wrote more than 100 books, and one would have to lack any sense of humour not to enjoy his work. I have chosen one as a good introduction to the author, Pigs Have Wings.

Written in 1952, it is the story of a sow called Empress of Blandings, whose owner Lord Emsworth hopes will win the Fat Pigs class at the Shropshire Agricultural Show for the third year in succession.

However, his fiendish rival, Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, has a challenger in Queen of Matchingham. What unfolds is a convoluted and silly plot, involving pig-napping.

For enjoyment

I Hear You by Paul McVeigh. Published by Salt, €14.50

A slim volume at just 128 pages, I Hear You is a baker’s dozen collection of stories by their Belfast-born author, and were originally commissioned for BBC Radio 4.

As a consequence, and given that they needed to fit a certain time slot, they all had to be 2,000 words in length. This is a challenge for any writer (this one especially), but the award-winning Paul McVeigh manages to edit the length of each piece without losing any depth in his works.

The main part of the collection is The Circus, ten stories told in different voices but all weaving together to give is an insight into a community that, while it still has the shadow of the Troubles hanging over it, is now dealing with a very different world of multi-culturalism.

Each of the characters portrayed by McVeigh is engaging, different and they very much come to life through his words. Carry this book with you and escape into a different world now and again.

Success story

Aer Dogs by Tom Lyons. Published by Irelandia Press, €16.99

Declan Ryan is one of three sons born to Ryanair’s founder Tony Ryan. He is a successful businessman and philanthropist, but one who largely eschews the public limelight. That changes to some extent here, as Aer Dogs was obviously commissioned by Declan, and to write it he engaged one of Ireland’s best known and reputable journalists, Tom Lyons.

Declan is executive chairman of Irelandia Aviation, has built five low-cost carriers to date with varying degrees of success, and is an active investor in start-up enterprises. He created The One Foundation which established ‘Books at One’, a collective of locally-managed community bookshops.

This social enterprise invests profits in fostering a love of reading for learning, pleasure and connection. While this book might at first appear to hold limited appeal to readers, Tom Lyons has managed to make it accessible.