The Innocent of Falkland Road

London, Summer, 1964. The Beatles have just released A Hard Days Night and the swinging sixties are fast approaching. Ralph, twelve years old, waves his mother goodbye as she disappears to the U.S. to work for a year, leaving him in the care of Doreen, an Irish housekeeper, and her husband Tom, a labourer. It is never easy being stuck inside the pill-box of the skull and looking out, particularly when the world is in flux, when it is peopled by chancers and crooks, swingers and adulterers, unreliable friends and - very occasionally - even good people, and when the grown-ups around you play strange games that involve fighting as much as loving each other. Yet Ralph is nothing if not curious, as well as cunning if necessary: he hangs on and gradually, slowly, begins to understand the world as it really is, an experience that frightens, enlightens and surprises him. A masterful novel by one of Ireland's finest writers.

Carlo Gébler is the author of several novels, including The Innocent of Falkland Road (2017) and The Dead Eight (2011), which was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. He is a prolific talent, having written novels for children, as well as several plays for both radio and stage. He has written extensively in publications such as the Irish Independent, the Guardian, the Financial Times and The Dublin Review.