The National Book Award–winning author reveals the echoes of political tragedy in the most intimate lives of people during Northern Ireland's Troubles.

Writing in a new form, but with the skill and force and sparkling poetry that have brought him international acclaim, Colum McCann has delivered masterful, memorable short fiction.

In Everything in This Country Must, a teenage girl must choose between allegiance to her Catholic father and gratitude to the British soldiers who have saved the family's horse. The young hero of Hunger Strike, a novella, tries to replicate the experience of his uncle, an IRA prisoner on hunger strike. And in Wood, a small boy does his part for the Protestant marches, concealing his involvement from his blind father.

"Excellent―this is a powerful and moving collection." ―Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize–winning author

"Captures that peculiar nexus of hormones, deprivation and political imperative on a Northern Irish child coming of age." ― Los Angeles Times Book Review

"[A] stunning new book . . . Told in McCann's lush prose, these stories are both mesmerizing and painful." — Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"On every page, McCann's prose flows with a lean, austere majesty . . . The result is a shivery, hard-earned, unforgettable beauty." —Dan Cryer, Newsday

"McCann's fiction is equal parts death and beauty, its inescapable realism uplifted by an exquisitely soulful and visual prose." —Gail Caldwell, The Boston Globe

"McCann's stunning achievement is that he never strikes a dissonant note despite the dissonance in his characters' lives." —Denise Gess, The Washington Post Book World