Beheading the Virgin Mary, and Other Stories

by Donal McLaughlin

Overview

Liam O'Donnel, an Irish boy growing up in Scotland, is often the focus of Donal McLaughlin's hilarious and harrowing short stories, and in beheading the virgin mary, he continues this loose narrative, interspersed — every second story — with unrelated reports. Here, Liam steps in dog dirt on his way to Sunday Mass; Bloody Sunday is experienced as a series of phone calls to the home of a Scottish neighbor; and the title story introduces the next generation of O'Donnells. With his keen ear and inimitable spirit, the always innovative McLaughlin is one of the brightest lights of contemporary European fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628970128
Publisher:	Deep Vellum Publishing
Publication date:	03/01/2014
Series:	Scottish Literature
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Donal McLaughlin specializes in translating contemporary Swiss fiction. He has translated more than one hundred writers for the "New Swiss Writing" anthologies.

Table of Contents

big trouble 7

a recent death 17

the troubles (for you) 33

somewhere down the line 51

a day out 60

the way to a man's heart 79

a trip to carfin 92

the secret of how to love 127

we now know 140

a limit 150

mrs. goodman 152

a story when you 177

beheading the virgin mary 181

bonus material: the completely true story of the goldfish ghost 187

acknowledgment 199

Editorial Reviews

McLaughlin uses his brilliant ear for living, leaping language to tell stories of how the great wars enter small and tender lives. He is a writer of such humanity! His prose, newly hooked, is alive and shining! Buy it! Buy it!

Kiran Desai

Frighteningly talented

Metro

The rhythm king of Scottish fiction.

New Statesman

The language is consistent and wonderful, evoking something I have not yet seen in our literature--the meld of Scottish and Northern Irish. It's both a chasm and a bridge... I feel like I have stepped into a secret, although I'm not entirely sure what secrets I should or should not know.

Colum McCann

"The language is consistent and wonderful, evoking something I have not yet seen in our literature — the meld of Scottish and Northern Irish. It's both a chasm and a bridge... I feel like I have stepped into a secret, although I'm not entirely sure what secrets I should or should not know." — Colum McCann

Dalkey Archive Press

"The rhythm king of Scottish fiction..." — New Statesman

Dalkey Archive Press

"Frighteningly talented..." — Metro

Dalkey Archive Press

From the Publisher

06/01/2014
Recipient of the Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award, Northern Ireland-born, Scottish-bred McLaughlin writes lacerating stories about the little insults of the everyday, frequently focusing on a lad named Liam O'Donnell, who sounds something like McLaughlin himself. VERDICT Liquidly written, darkly witty, and highly recommended for literate readers; all Irvine Welsh and Kevin Barry fans should pick up.

Library Journal