The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac: Stories

Brilliant, dark stories of women’s lives by “a very major talent” (Joseph OConnor, Irish Times)

In these visceral, stunningly crafted stories by the author of the much-acclaimed Trespasses, women’s lives are etched by poverty—material, emotional, sexual—but also splashed by beauty, sometimes even joy, as they search for the good in the cards they’ve been dealt.

A wife is abandoned by her new husband in a derelict housing estate, with blood on her hands. An expectant mother’s worst fears about her husband’s entanglement with a teenage girl are confirmed. A sister is tormented by visions of the man her brother murdered during the Troubles. A woman struggles to forgive herself after an abortion threatens to destroy her marriage. Plumbing the depths of intimacy, violence, and redemption, these stories are “dazzling, heartbreaking . . . keen to share the lessons of a lifetime” (Guardian).

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304 pages

Average rating: 5.67

3 RATINGS

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1 REVIEW

Community Reviews

ediehas
Feb 28, 2025
2/10 stars
feel bad ranking this so low but it really is a me thing. great writing and I really did enjoy three of the stories a lot in the middle, but could not get into the others that flanked them.

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