The Convictions of John Delahunt
Andrew Hughes
Dublin, 1841. On a cold December morning, a small boy is enticed away from his mother and his throat savagely cut. This could be just one more small, sad death in a city riven by poverty, inequality and political unrest, but this killing causes a public outcry. For it appears the culprit – a feckless student named John Delahunt – is also an informant for the authorities at Dublin Castle. And strangely, this young man seems neither to regret what he did nor fear his punishment. Indeed, as he awaits the hangman in his cell in Kilmainham Gaol, John Delahunt decides to tell his story in this, his final, deeply unsettling statement . . .
Based on true events that convulsed Victorian Ireland, The Convictions of John Delahunt is the tragic tale of a man who betrays his family, his friends, his society and, ultimately, himself. Set amidst Dublin’s taverns, tenements, courtrooms and alleyways and with its rich, Dickensian cast of characters, this compelling, at times darkly humorous, novel brilliantly evokes a time and a place, and introduces a remarkable new literary voice.
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About Andrew Hughes
Reviews for The Convictions of John Delahunt
C. J. SANSOM, author of Dissolution and Winter in Madrid
Unputdownable . . . chillingly portrayed . . . a highly sophisticated first novel.
CHARLES PALLISER, author of The Quincunx
Compelling and eerily authentic . . . Read it and be grateful to be alive in our day and age.
ROBERT GODDARD
A dark, original story wrapped in a wonderful gothic gloom . . . it's a tough act to pull off, but Andrew Hughes manages it with brio. I heard echoes of James Hogg and Robert Louis Stevenson.
ANDREW TAYLOR, author of The American Boy and The Scent of Death
Reminiscent of John Banville's The Book of Evidence . . . a bracing, lurid tale that is as engrossing as it is chilling.
Declan Burke
IRISH INDEPENDENT
A vivid piece of writing . . . brings to mind Andrew Miller’s Costa-winning novel, Pure.
IRISH TIMES
Extraordinarily detailed world, impeccably researched . . . so superbly written that it soars as a masterly work of fiction . . . utterly compelling.
Dermot Bolger
IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY
An intriguing debut (that) sets out Hughes as one to watch.
SUNDAY TIMES IRELAND
A skilfully planned, elegantly written debut . . . a riveting read.
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
Stupendous: a brilliant achievement for a first novel, completely compelling and with a perfectly damaged central character.
MANDA SCOTT