MALARKY
Winner of the 2012 Amazon.ca First Novel Award
Winner or the 2013 Debut-Litzer Prize For Fiction
Nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
A Barnes and Noble Summer 2012 Discover Great New Writers Pick
CBC Books 10 Canadian Writers to Watch: 2012
Named on 16 Best Books of 2012 lists
Malarky Reviews
“Malarky is a terrific read, a brilliant collision of heartbreak and hilarity written in a voice that somehow seems both feral and perfectly controlled. Anakana Schofield’s Our Woman takes a cool nod at Joyce, then goes her own way in one of the most moving and lyrical debut novels I’ve read.”—Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins
“A caustic, funny and moving fantasia of an Irish mammy going round the bend.” — Emma Donoghue, author of ROOM
“Anakana Schofield is part of a new wave of wonderful Irish fiction—international in scope and electrically alive.”—Colum McCann, author of Transatlantic
“Good writing and dark wit always excite me and they come together thrillingly in this book. It has a quiet grip on the strangeness of the interior and exterior worlds of love and politics. I delighted in the writing and the scope.”—Jenny Diski, author of What I Don’t Know About Animals.
“A word of warning regarding this one of a kind tale of a woman’s endeavours to accept the realities of her life on their own terms- mid-guffaw you may find that you’ve taken it all most intensely to heart. I read Malarky over a year ago and Our Woman is still with me, so the process is probably irreversible.” —Helen Oyeyemi, author of Mr Fox.
“Clever, witty, imaginative and intriguing, Malarky is a stunning debut from an exceptionally good writer.” The Irish Times
“We become comfortable saying that there’s nothing new, and then something like Malarky comes along, which is new and old and different and familiar, but ultimately itself, comfortable in its own skin, wise and smart and crazy-sexy or maybe sexy-crazy—well, you just have to read it to understand. It’s a novel that sets its own course, sure and steady, even when it seems like it might be about to go over the edge of the world.”—Laura Lippman, author of When She Was Good
“This is the story of Anakana Schofield’s teapot-wielding ‘Our Woman’: fretful mother, disgruntled farmwife, and—surprisingly late in life—sexual outlaw/anthropologist. Everything about this primly raunchy, uproarious novel is unexpected—each draught poured from the teapot marks another moment of pure literary audacity.” —Lynn Coady, author of The Antagonist.
“Malarky spins and glitters like a coin flipped in the air—now searingly tragic, now blackly funny. The language is joyful and exuberant, the characters thoughtful and deeply felt. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.”—Annabel Lyon, author of The Golden Mean.
“Anyone bold enough to name her book after a word so loaded deserves our attention. In Malarky Schofield pulls her long line tight—and lets go when we least expect it.”—Michael Turner, author of Hard Core Logo