Praised as âa work of wild, vaulting ambition and achievementâ by Entertainment Weekly, Jamie OâNeillâs first novel invites comparison to such literary greats as James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Charles Dickens.
Jim Mack is a naÃŊve young scholar and the son of a foolish, aspiring shopkeeper. Doyler Doyle is the rough-diamond sonârevolutionary and blasphemousâof Mr. Mackâs old army pal. Out at the Forty Foot, that great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the nude, the two boys make a pact: Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, on Easter of 1916, they will swim to the distant beacon of Muglins Rock and claim that island for themselves. All the while Mr. Mack, who has grand plans for a corner shop empire, remains unaware of the depth of the boysâ burgeoning friendship and of the changing landscape of a nation.
Set during the year preceding the Easter Uprising of 1916âIrelandâs brave but fractured revolt against British ruleâAt Swim, Two Boys is a tender, tragic love story and a brilliant depiction of people caught in the tide of history. Powerful and artful, and ten years in the writing, it is a masterwork from Jamie OâNeill.