SHORTLISTED FOR IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR
AN
OBSERVER
BEST DEBUT NOVELIST
‘A triumph … the funniest novel I've read in years’
SALLY ROONEY
‘A brilliant and bittersweet ode to young love’ IRISH TIMES
'One of my favourite books of the year’
JULIA ARMFIELD
‘A funny and frank coming-of age-drama'OBSERVER
John Masterson has no idea what he wants.
It’s his last summer on the small island where he has grown up. He should be enjoying the weeks until his exam results come through, but instead he's desperately trying to keep his head down after his mother’s nude sext to another man was leaked to the whole island. He's doing his best to distract himself with his Gaelic football ambitions, going out with his mates and a blossoming, sort-of, romance with his slightly older co-worker Amber.
But soon John must face up to the choices before him: to stand out or fit in and whether to love and let himself be loved, despite, or perhaps because of, the flaws that make us all human.
A book of the year in
Observer
,
Irish Times
,
iPaper
,
Vogue
,
Esquire
and more
‘Welcome to the psyche of a teenage boy in all its humorous and hormonal glory’ TELEGRAPH
As evocative as it is funny. Think: the male version of Sally Rooney’VOGUE
‘Gorgeous … a writer of immense talent’
MICHAEL MAGEE
‘I’m not sure I’ve read a funnier book, or one I’ve enjoyed more’ DAILY MAIL
‘Bighearted and boisterous, bursting with life’
COLIN WALSH, author of
Kala
‘
Funny and heartbreaking
’ FERDIA LENNON, author of
Glorious Exploits
‘
A gifted writer
’ ANNE GRIFFIN, author of
The Island of Longing
John Patrick McHugh's 'Fun and Games' was an Irish top ten bestseller w/c 2025-04-28.
