Books by Paul Murray
The Mark and the Void: A Novel
by Paul Murray
Set in Dublin in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, The Mark and the Void follows French émigré Claude Martingale through his daily life as an investment banker —quite literally, through the eyes of a fictional novelist called Paul. This follow-up to Paul Murray's breakthrough book Skippy Dies is tricksier than its predecessor, explained Publishers Weekly, but shares the same "quick wit". A "page-turner with smarts, an absurdist riff on our economic follies."
“A tragicomic family saga. In The Bee Sting we view the world through the eyes of four members of the Barnes family in a revolving carousel of perspective that has seen the novel compared to the work of Jonathan Franzen.” Read more...
The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
Interviews where books by Paul Murray were recommended
Books by Irish Authors
Home to the Blarney Stone — said to bestow “the gift of the gab” — and with a long tradition of valuing bards and wandering storytellers, it is no surprise that Ireland has produced some of the most recognised names in the English language canon. Considering the small population, Irish authors continue to punch well above their weight in publishing. Here we bring you a selection of Irish authors that have been recommended on Five Books by experts, from bestselling and award-winning contemporary writers to both famous and less well-known classic authors.
The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist, recommended by Cal Flyn
Every year, the judges for the Booker Prize read more than a hundred books that have been submitted by their publishers in the hope of being recognised by one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards. The 2023 shortlist features a novel-in-stories, an Irish dystopia, and plenty of family drama. See the Booker Prize shortlist 2024.
The Funniest Books of the 21st Century
This year, to mark its 25th anniversary, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction set out to find the funniest book of the last twenty-five years. We asked comedian Tatty Macleod, one of the judges, about the process of sifting through 25 previous winners to find the funniest book of the 21st century.
