The Bee Sting

Author: Murray, Paul

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 2 May 2024 by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 656 pages
129 x 199 x 44 | 518g

WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2023WINNER OF THE SKY ARTS AWARD FOR LITERATURE 2024WINNER OF AN POST IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE WRITERS’ PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024SHORTLISTED FOR THE KERRY GROUP NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2024Book of the Year 2023 according to The Times, The New York Times, New Yorker, Sunday Times, Economist, Observer, Guardian, Washington Post, Lit Hub, TIME magazine, Irish Times, Oldie, Daily Mail, i Paper, Independent, Evening Standard, Kirkus, Daily Express, City A.M. 'A tragicomic triumph. You won't read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year' GuardianThe Barnes family are in trouble. Until recently they ran the biggest business in town, now they’re teetering on the brink of bankruptcy – and that’s just the start of their problems. Dickie and Imelda’s marriage is hanging by a thread; straight-A student Cass is careening off the rails; PJ is hopelessly in debt to the school bully. Meanwhile the ghosts of old mistakes are rising out of the past to meet them, but everyone’s too wrapped up in the present to see the danger looming . . .

'Generous, immersive, sharp-witted and devastating; the sort of novel that becomes a friend for life' Financial Times‘Paul Murray [is] the undisputed reigning champion of epic Irish tragicomedy’ Spectator‘An instant classic’ Washington Post‘[An] astute, remorselessly funny novel’ Daily Mirror ‘A wagyu steak of a novel . . . A classic in the mode of The Corrections’ The Times