Home ⋅ Published Books ⋅ Backstop Land

Backstop Land
Share by Email Share on Messenger Share on Whatsapp Share on Whatsapp

By: Glenn Patterson
Publisher: Head of Zeus Publishing
Published: November 2019
Pages: 240
Categories: Politics
Language: English
Available as: Paperback
On sale at:
ISBN-13: 9781838932022
ASIN: 183893202X

Northern Ireland's frontier with the South has been an invisible line since the peace agreement of 1998. Now the battle over the UK's decision to leave the EU risks turning it into a hard border. Yet few people in the rest of Britain (or Ireland) know anything much about this most volatile part of an increasingly disunited Kingdom. This book was written in the feverish summer of 2019, in the aftermath of the 'New' IRA's murder of Lyra McKee, with the fear and anxiety of Brexit looming over a region in which paramilitary forces are still carrying out beatings, and worse, even as the numbers of tourists drawn by the Titanic and Game of Thrones continue to grow. The power-sharing government created by the Good Friday Agreement has not met a bleak record in a long-running farce in over 1,000 days. If it wasn't for the wonderful weather you might wonder why anyone stayed there at all. Glenn Patterson brings a lifetime's engagement with Northern Ireland and a brilliant novelist's eye to an informative, darkly entertaining portrait of a fragile country.

Other Books From this Category

View More From This Category

Other Books From this Author

  • 18 Sep 2023 - New Island Books

    Two Summers

    By Glenn Patterson

    A pair of novellas, set over two pivotal summers in the lives of two young men from Belfast, recall the constraints of the place where they were born and the times in which they are living. Summer ...

  • 18 Sep 2023 - New Island Books

    Two Summers

    By Glenn Patterson

    A pair of novellas, set over two pivotal summers in the lives of two young men from Belfast, recall the constraints of the place where they were born and the times in which they are living. Summer ...

  • 1 Jan 2019 - Doire Press

    Belfast Stories

    By Paul McVeigh, Lisa Frank, Wendy Erskine, Jan Carson, Caoilinn Hughes, Glenn Patterson

    Belfast Stories is a collection of short fiction set throughout the neighbourhoods of the city, written by writers— both established and emerging—who live, have lived, or who have a strong connec...

  • 7 Jan 2016 - Head of Zeus

    Gull

    By Glenn Patterson

    It was one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland: the construction, during the war's most savage phase, of a factory in West Belfast to make a luxury sports c...

  • 4 Jan 2016 - Faber & Faber

    The Rest Just Follows

    By Glenn Patterson

    Belfast, 1970s: Craig, St John and Mazine meet while at secondary school. Three very different people, they each come from testing backgrounds, and become friends just as life gets exciting and adulth...

  • 19 Aug 2015 - New Island Books

    Here's Me Here

    By Glenn Patterson

    Here's Me Here: Further Reflections of a Lapsed Protestant features a wide and thought-provoking section of Glenn Patterson's writings. With his trademark wit and intelligence. Patterson offers his wr...

View More From This Author

About Us

Irish Interest in based on one very simple idea: to bring the contents of any Irish bookshop to people everywhere, especially those outside Ireland who do not have the possibility of keeping abreast of new books published in Ireland. The Irish Interest web platform is purely a provider of information about new publications. The aim of the site is to have every publishing house in Ireland adding their latest titles as they become available. Hyperlinks to each title bring users of the site directly to the publisher's web area or to a sales site where books can be purchased.

Privacy Policy

Irishinterest.ie and its owners strive at all times to preserver the privacy of all personal information stored on its website and servers. Information deemed to be private and confidential will not be communicated to any parties or divulged in any way. Cookies and similar technologies Irishinterest.ie and its owners are not responsible for external data collection entities. Third party sites with access to Irishinterest.ie may be able to acquire or assimilate data. Cookies and similar technologies can be utilized by third parties accessing our site without our knowledge.

Terms & Conditions

Irishinterest.ie, Irishinterest.com, and its owners take no responsibility for information issued on its site that is posted by third parties. It is the sole responsibility of the third parties who utilize the site for publication of any information to ensure that such information is correct and does not infringe laws and the rights of others who may be affected by publication of such information. Disputed material will be removed pending clarification.