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Iron Annie

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2022

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Iron Annie

By: Luke Cassidy
Narrated by: Eleanor McLoughlin
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Bloomsbury presents Iron Annie by Luke Cassidy, read by Eleanor McLoughlin.

I still think’a her every day, several times a day.

Aoife knows everyone in Dundalk’s underworld. Too well, in some cases. But when she meets Annie, a beautiful whirlwind of a woman, and brings her to the Town, she finds that she doesn't know nearly enough about her. Annie is magnetic and wild and Aoife’s desire to learn more quickly becomes a need, and then an obsession – to know this dangerous woman, to love her, to keep her. So when Aoife’s friend and collaborator the Rat King asks her to help him dispose of ten kilos of cocaine, swiped from a rival, she brings Annie along for a road trip through a Britain that she only knows as a place to be suspicious of. So when Annie decides she doesn’t want to return to Ireland, Aoife makes a decision that changes everything.

Gritty and yet tender, tragic and yet hopeful, Iron Annie is a breakneck journey that crackles with energy, warmth and heart, and marks the arrival of a fresh and vibrant new voice in literary fiction.©2021 Luke Cassidy (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

What an exquisite novel Iron Annie is. The narrative voice fair crackles: it’s full of wonder, grit, insight, sadness and joy, and is quite beautiful. And Aoife is one of those fictional characters that arrives only once or twice in an age, sublimely rendered and completely unforgettable. (Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart and From a Low and Quiet Sea)
It’s apparent from the opening lines of Iron Annie that Luke Cassidy can write. His prose fizzes with energy and music, and the reader is immediately plunged into the anarchic underbelly of Ireland and the lives of Cassidy’s vivid characters. (Graeme Macrae Burnet, author of His Bloody Project)
It’s wild and fierce and full of awful life. Also dead funny . . . This needs to be slapped on the arse and let out snorting into the world like a mustang horse (Niall Griffiths, author of Grits, Sheepshagger and Stump)
Iron Annie marks the arrival of a fresh and compelling young voice in literary fiction . . . These complex, funny, tender, lewd and lovely characters will grab you by the throat from the first line and dare you to stop reading (Emily Rapp Black, author of Poster Child, The Still Point of the Turning World, Cartography for Cripples and Sanctuary)
Iron Annie is a staggering debut novel. And what makes it so stylish and ferocious isn’t the drugs, the brutal violence, or even the wild love and sex – it’s the language. I’ve never read anything like the sentences in here. (Rachel DeWoskin, author of Banshee, Big Girl Small, and Foreign Babes in Beijing)
All stars
Most relevant
I bought this book and was about half-way through reading it when I switched to the audio version. I switched partly because I was curious to hear the main character's Dundalk accent, and partly because I like to listen to audio books while I paint. Eleanor McLoughlin narrates this story just beautifully. She just totally nails it, both the accent and the character of Aoife.
The story itself is full of adventure and misdeeds, and the plot is enough to keep you turning the pages. But, for me, it's the mix of humour and pathos that warrants the 5 stars. This is an amazing debut of a novel, and a great addition to Irish literature. I can hear slight echoes of Flann Ó Brien occasionally, and a little of James Joyce too. But this takes nothing from its originality. Rather it establishes its place in a rich tradition of Irish writing. I loved it.

Fabulous new Irish novel

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Eleanor McLoughlin made Iron Annie as good as it could possibly be. I believed in Aoife and all her troubles, her loves, her friendships and I just wanted to jump in and help her out. Luke Cassidy has written a truly amazing book which rings true in every way and having Eleanor speak his words was a triumph. A theatrical experience I won't forget in a hurry and will probably be listening to again before very long.

Authentic in every way

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I loved it but I stopped reading for a while after the big incident happened in London as it really shocked me.

brilliant

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This was a decent book, but I wasn't as blown away as many other have been while listening to it.
I found the name of the book an odd choice, because the book was very much about Aoife and her stories, and not really so much about Annie. Annie wasn't really as significant as the title would have you believe. This was a book from Aoife's perspective as she navigated Gypsies and the underworld of Dundalk, and then into England. It gave me flashes of Trainspotting, with drug filled tales and an edgy reality.
At times I didn't keep up with the time hops. It would switch from the current adventure, then Aoife would start telling a story from years ago. I had to pay more attention to keep up.
The books synopsis said this was a gritty and tender book... but I really didn't see much of a tender side. As a lesbian reading the book, which has 2 female lead protagonists in some form of relationship, it was clearly written by a man.
Overall, it was an entertaining listen and the narrator was absolutely brilliant! She really elevated the book and made it worth listening to.
Quick note - a previous review says this books author is a "sexual predator, rapist and manipulator". Please ignore this review as the person she is talking about shares the same name as the author but is absolutely not him. I tried to get it taken down, but Amazon kept it up.

Awesome Narrator

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I have done this in a day and a half! I could not stop. The narrator is the best I have ever experienced and I have listened to loads of audio books. The story was wondrous and mega insightful considering the theme.

I practically ate this book!

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