In the five novels by Ireland's greatest comic writer we can explore the full range of his invention from the multi-layered madness of At Swim-Two-Birds" to the piercing realism of " The Hard Life" & the surreal logic of " The Third Policeman". This is a world where bicycles listen to conversations inventors search for methods of 'diluting' water & characters play truant while novelists sleep; a world where spiteful fairies wreak havoc & heroes from legend blunder into suburban sitting-rooms. This is recognizably the Ireland of Joyce & Beckett
- rowdy high-spirited by turns sensual & cerebral -transformed by O' Brien's unique vision."