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The Playground

On sale

4th September 2014

Price: £9.99

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Selected: ebook / ISBN-13: 9781849167802

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Eve is putting her life together again.

Her partner has walked out on her. She’s moved into a tiny flat on the outskirts of Dublin. She has no job. But she does have her beloved baby daughter – and there’s a little playground across the street.

It’s a tired spot for teenagers and tramps, but Eve is determined to make this new life work. Alongside her interfering lodger and a group of local mums she swings into action to make the playground the heart of the community.

But not all games are innocent – and not all friends are true. When a terrible accident is blamed on her, Eve must forge her own independence – and realise that the playground is not a place to hide from adulthood.

Reviews

Irish Independent
Dazzling ... It's a funny, sometimes heartbreaking insight into how a young mother struggles to cope ... Absolutely captivating'
John Banville
Julia Kelly is surely the freshest voice in Irish fiction since the wonderful early novels of Edna O'Brien. This is a future to watch
Sunday Independent
Searingly honest, uncomfortably so ... Anatomises the aftermath of a breakup and the ensuing struggles with scalpel-like prose ... emotional resonance and achingly human observations
Irish Times
A first-rate portrait ... Very funny (squirm-inducing early Mike Leigh - Abigail's Party, say - comes to mind) ... The anarchy of the everyday is what the novel conveys so well, so unhurriedly, so unostentatiously, with much sly wit ... Excellent