Ravelling - A beautifully observed portrait of five young men growing up on the edge of Dublin’s underworld
| By: | Estelle Birdy |
| Publisher: | The Lilliput Press Ltd |
| Published: | May 2025 |
| Pages: | 402 |
| Categories: | Fiction, Literature |
| Language: | English |
| On sale at: |
|
SET IN DUBLIN’S LIBERTIES, Estelle Birdy’s explosively original debut Ravelling channels the energies and agonies of young men let loose in the city, their city, navigating the tumultuous trajectory of youth and young manhood, where they balance their hopes with the harsh realities of their present. Hurtling between friendships, feuds, drug-deals, family and brushes with the law, this is modern Dublin as never before portrayed. Ravelling follows Deano, a weed-smoking hurling star, living with his aunt in an about-to-be-demolished flat; Hamza, a Pakistani Muslim atheist and precocious academic, who sells his ADHD drugs to the kids in a private school; Oisín, empathetic and iron-willed, who has begun to see his dead brother at the end of his bed; Congolese nature lover, Benit, who just wants to relax and hurl with the lads; Karl, a maybe-gay fashionista, dreaming of something better while immersing himself in his art. Bound by friendship, place and the memories of those who’ve died too soon, these young men grapple with race, class, sex, parties, poverty, violence and Garda harassment, all while wondering what it means to be a man in twenty-first century Ireland. ‘Ravelling masterfully evokes the fragility and beauty of human relationships. It’s funny, bold and bursting with love. There’s no moral here, just an ode to community, a burning sense of youth and a plea for a society pushed to the margins.’ KARL GEARY ‘A glorious novel, tough and hilarious and full of heart. What a writer! Every line sings from the page.’ DONAL RYAN ‘Written in fluent, truthful prose, with humour and empathy abounding.’ SEBASTIAN BARRY ‘A brilliantly profane, hilarious ride through the Liberties … Ravelling lays a sparkling new Dublin over the old. A revelation.’ LAUREN MACKENZIE
Other Books From this Category
-
5 Jun 5025 - Walker Books
Skipshock
Margo is on a train when she slips into another dimension, passing from the height of Irish summer into the chill of an alien winter, from a 24-hour day to one that begins and ends in just six hours. ...
-
7 Aug 2026 - Little Island
The Grandfather Clock and Other Irish Folk Tales
Bursting with humour and adventure, and told in a lyrical voice, these colourful and entertaining stories are likely to be new even to children who are familiar with the classics of Irish mythology. T...
-
2 Jul 2026 - Hachette Books Ireland
If These Walls Could Talk: The new rural noir thriller from the author readers can’t put down
Hazel McNamara is on the phone with her husband Darragh when she hears the screech of tyres. He screams her name - then, silence. The jeep he was driving is soon found, overturned in a field off the m...
-
18 Jun 2026 - Hachette Books Ireland
The Nun of Ravensbrück: The Irish Nun Who Defied the Nazis
In the cold winter of 1944, Sr Kate McCarthy - Irish nun and French Resistance leader - arrives at the gates of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp for women. She has endured four years of horrendous suff...
-
12 Jun 2026 - Gill
Effie is Offline
By Karen Harte
-
11 Jun 2026 - Penguin Books Ltd
Experts in a Dying Field
The Heathens thought of themselves as 'the 1000th best band of all time'. Then their tour van crashed, and one of their members died. Twenty years later, weird things are happening in Dublin, bringin...
-
4 Jun 2026 - Gill
Saving Grace
-
2 Jun 2026 - Tinder Press
Land
'You will never understand how the land remembers, how deep the roots grow' A spellbinding story of separation, longing, recovery and survival as a family makes a new home in the aftermath of trage...
-
22 May 2026 - New Island Books
THESE IMPERFECT BEINGS
Life moves forward, but its meaning often emerges in hindsight. In this luminous collection, Dermot Bolger captures those unexpected moments when past loves and choices resurface with startling clarit...
-
22 May 2026 - New Island Books
THESE IMPERFECT BEINGS
Life moves forward, but its meaning often emerges in hindsight. In this luminous collection, Dermot Bolger captures those unexpected moments when past loves and choices resurface with startling clarit...
-
21 May 2026 - Penguin Books Ltd
Other People's Lives
‘Marriage was the biggest decision of their lives and yet they made it so lightly it was barely a decision at all’ As schoolgirls, Justine and her best friend Iseult dreamed of a future that revo...
-
21 May 2026 - Penguin Books Ltd
Other People's Lives
‘Marriage was the biggest decision of their lives and yet they made it so lightly it was barely a decision at all’ As schoolgirls, Justine and her best friend Iseult dreamed of a future that revo...
-
21 May 2026 - Faber & Faber
Said The Dead
From the author of A Ghost in the Throat, an unforgettable book - both history and ghost story - that will leave you gasping by its final page. In the city of Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hosp...
-
15 May 2026 - New Island Books
Slant
'A heartfelt celebration of all kinds of queer love' ― Alice Linehan, Gay Community News A ground-breaking Irish lesbian love story, set across the decades from the 1980s AIDS crisis to the 20...
-
14 May 2026 - The Lilliput Press Ltd
Somewhere
Back in the flat, Sylvia is no use. She doesn’t have any ideas, all she suggests is get a job, take your time, get some money together, then go somewhere. But Clodagh needs to go now, needs to go to...
-
11 May 2026 - O'Brien Press Ltd
Looking for Aurora
Aurora Kutti's life seems perfect: she's a beauty and fashion icon for her many TikTok followers. But below the surface it’s a different story. All the freebies and product launches can’t sto...
-
8 May 2026 - Book Hub Publishing
Poems For Alina
By John Ennis
Poems for Alina has at its heart a verse sequence that speaks of one personal experience of healing while in the hands of another human being, in this case professional healer Alina Mitas, naturalised...
-
7 May 2026 - The Lilliput Press Ltd
An Apology For Roses
‘She had been born with a greater capacity for love and pleasure than most people; and her nature had very early on found itself at war with the primitive, property-ridden society in which she was r...
-
7 May 2026 - Hachette Books Ireland
Love Scene
By Anna Carey
Hate at first sight. Then comes the rewrite. Writing for an iconic soap opera was supposed to be a dream come true. But Annie's boss is a tyrant, the actors are out of control, and there are rum...
-
7 May 2026 - Penguin Books Ltd
The In-Laws
Family life is enough of a juggle without ... The In-Laws Amanda. Katie. Melanie. Three wildly different women with one big problem – their impossible mother-in-law, Nancy. When an unexpect...
Other Books From this Author
-
9 May 2024 - The Lilliput Press Ltd
Ravelling: 'A glorious novel' – Donal Ryan: 'A beautifully observed portrait of five young men growing up on the edge of Dublin’s underworld' The Guardian
-
9 May 2024 - The Lilliput Press Ltd
Ravelling: 'A glorious novel' – Donal Ryan: 'A beautifully observed portrait of five young men growing up on the edge of Dublin’s underworld' The Guardian
SET IN DUBLIN’S LIBERTIES, Estelle Birdy’s explosively original debut Ravelling channels the energies and agonies of young men let loose in the city, their city, navigating the tumultuous trajecto...
