Description:

Happy or unhappy, all families are a mystery. None more than the Cullens. Having escaped their clutches and moved across the water, Denny is just beginning to make a life for himself when a call from his sister brings him back to Dublin, city of his birth. Back to square one. As if squabbling siblings and unhelpful childhood friends weren't trouble enough, a ghost starts making appearances in the family home and Denny’s life starts to get a lot more complicated. Full of riotous laughter, wonderment and love found in the most unlikely places, Ghosts and Lightning is an exuberant tale of someone trying to do the right thing surrounded by the wrong choices. It is also a revealing chronicle of our times from an exceptional new Irish talent. ** ### From Publishers Weekly Twenty-something protagonist Denny Cullen is called home to Dublin when his mother dies unexpectedly. He stumbles through the following weeks; vivid reunions with friends and family are felt through a veil of loss and grief. Written in the strong, colorful dialect of working-class Dublin, Byrne's first-person fiction reads like a memoir, and British actor John Lee's narration is natural and realistic. Lee articulates Denny's thoughtful observations with self-deprecating wit and heartfelt warmth kept in check with gritty, dark humor. *A Doubleday hardcover. (Jan.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist A kinder, gentler Irvine Welsh, first-novelist Byrne gives voice to a pack of Dublin lads, chief among them Denny Cullen. Having escaped the monotony of his unemployed, hard-drinking Dublin lifestyle for the fresh sights of Wales, Denny is unexpectedly called back home when his ma dies. He is incredibly sad to think that he will no longer hear the encouraging words of his funny, resilient ma. His lesbian sister, Paula, is in even worse shape as she tries to drink and drug her way through her grief, claiming she is being haunted by a ghost under her bed. There’s nothing for it but to have a séance, led by Denny’s childhood friend Pajo, a green-haired ex-heroin addict with a mystical bent (one who “may be a Buddhist but still drinks like a Catholic”). Mad for wrestling and Guinness, Denny and his pals do their best to keep the darkness at bay, trading sharp one-liners in a thick Irish brogue. They prove irresistible even as Byrne offers up a caustic portrait of modern Dublin and life on the dole. --Joanne Wilkinson