The Glorious Heresies Book Summary

In the gritty streets of Cork, Ireland, 'The Glorious Heresies' unravels a tale of chaos and connection. When a priest is murdered, the lives of five unlikely characters intertwine in a world fueled by crime, betrayal, and hidden desires. Lisa McInerney masterfully exposes the dark underbelly of society, revealing how their pasts shape their present. With sharp wit and raw emotion, the narrative challenges the nature of sin and redemption. Dive into this electrifying story that dares to explore what it means to truly belong.

By Lisa McInerney

Published: 2017

"‘In our lives, we don’t choose the chaos that surrounds us, but we can choose how to navigate through it; sometimes, the only way to survive is to embrace the mess.'"

Book Review of The Glorious Heresies

Winner of the 2016 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and the Desmond Elliott Prize Shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the Irish Book Awards Longlisted for the 2016 International Dylan Thomas Prize The Irish Times March Book of the Month From Lisa McInerney, hailed by The Irish Times as “arguably the most talented writer at work in Ireland today,” comes The Glorious Heresies, a searing debut novel about life on the fringes of Ireland’s post-crash society. When grandmother Maureen Phelan is surprised in her home by a stranger, she clubs the intruder with a Holy Stone. The consequences of this unplanned murder connect four misfits struggling against their meager circumstances. Ryan is a fifteen-year-old drug dealer desperate not to turn out like his alcoholic father, Tony, whose feud with his next-door neighbor threatens to ruin his family. Georgie is a sex worker who half-heartedly joins a born-again movement to escape her profession and drug habit. And Jimmy Phelan, the most fearsome gangster in the city and Maureen’s estranged son, finds that his mother’s bizarre attempts at redemption threaten his entire organization. Biting and darkly funny, The Glorious Heresies presents an unforgettable vision of a city plagued by poverty and exploitation, where salvation still awaits in the most unexpected places. — New York Time's Book Review's "10 Best Crime Novels" of the year

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‘In our lives, we don’t choose the chaos that surrounds us, but we can choose how to navigate through it; sometimes, the only way to survive is to embrace the mess.'

The Glorious Heresies

By Lisa McInerney