The Death of All Things Seen

Description

Two families living the dream in small town America are forced to confront their guilty secrets in the aftermath of a shocking death. 'There was a new beginning. He felt it everywhere, in the sweep of change, in the simple pronouncement of 'Yes we can!'' It's 2008 and Norman Price - a moderately successful forty-something playwright living in Chicago - considers the shuddering impact of the financial crash. What's needed, he thinks, is the will for a new existence. When his parents die, one shortly after the other, The New Existence becomes Norman's mantra as he tries to recalibrate his own shaken world. Into Norman's tentative re-building, a couple of bombshells are dropped. His parents' old house has to go on the market, forcing him to revisit the past. And then he receives a mysterious email from a man he has never met but whose name is instantly, painfully, familiar. Norman's new existence is suddenly threatened by past secrets. Michael Collins takes post 9/11 America as the background for a deeply moving novel about complex identities and the fragility of humanity.

Michael Collins was born in Limerick and educated in Ireland and the US, where he won an athletics scholarship to Notre Dame University. He divides his life between Dublin and a small town near Chicago. Running and writing are his twin passions.

The prose carries the momentum of the novel. It is driven, virtuoso. The pace counterbalances the weight of the prose... a formidable, demanding achievement' * Irish Times * 'Collins's first novel for six years is an easy read, thanks to his seemingly effortless way with words' * Daily Mail * 'Recalls some of the farce and faux noir of early Coen Brothers films' * The Best New Fiction, Mail on Sunday * 'Contrasting current squalor with heroic origins, Collins' take on American culture is partly nostalgic, partly satirical, but always observant and knowledgeable' * Sunday Times * An incredibly distinguished writer... Collins has an extraordinary command of the English language. Some of the writing in The Death of All Things Seen is undeniably beautiful, and it's in these sections that this talent shines through' * Irish Examiner *