Love

PRAISE FOR LOVE: Love was critically celebrated on hardback publication, with the TLS calling it a 'new turn' for Roddy's writing, and the Economist stating it 'a reminder that its author is one to treasure'COMMERCIAL AND LITERARY APPEAL: Roddy is that rare thing: a literary innovator with broad commerical appeal. His fans range from John Boyne, Marian Keyes and Nick Hornby to Jon McGregor, Kevin Barry and Dave Eggers.A PHENOMENAL BESTSELLER: Roddy Doyle's adult books have sold more than 3.2 million copies across our editions. Love has the subject, critical momentum and package to stand out as a summer bestseller. A TIMELESS SUBJECT: Love marks Roddy Doyle's 12th novel. Love tells the story of coming-of-age and finding love in the watering holes of Dublin's pubs. It is a nostalgic, yet unsentimental celebration of youth from the Booker-winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha, Ha Ha. Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of eleven acclaimed novels including The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van and Smile, two collections of short stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

'A profound examination of friendship, romantic confusion and mortality' John Boyne

One summer's evening, two men meet up in a Dublin restaurant. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a secret he has to tell Davy, and Davy a grief he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be.

As two pints turns to three, then five, Davy and Joe set out to revisit the haunts of their youth. With the ghosts of Dublin entwining around them - the pubs, the parties, the broken hearts and bungled affairs - the men find themselves face-to-face with the realities of friendship.

Masterly... A first-rate novel about the different bonds between men and the ineffable mysteries of love.Doyle is justly renowned for his whip-smart dialogue... And there is beauty and compassion in Mr Doyle's sculpted, spare writing. Among all the banter and gags he manages to articulate feelings that are rarely expressed so fittingly... Love is a reminder that its author is one to treasure.Fast-paced and deceptively easy to read... Goes down as smoothly as gulps of beer.Love is altogether spellbinding... The whole book is audacious, richly layered and often comic, but ultimately deeply moving... Move over Socrates and watch an Irish master of dialogue at work.So perfectly constructed it is hard to believe it is really just about two old school friends getting drunk, and drunker... [Love] seems to bottle what male friendship can be like.