Home ⋅ Published Books ⋅ The Holy City

The Holy City
Share by Email Share on Messenger Share on Whatsapp Share on Whatsapp

By: Patrick McCabe
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: December 2009
Pages: 224
Categories: Fiction
Language: English
Available as: Hardback, Paperback, Audio
On sale at:
ISBN-13: 9780747597568
ISBN: 0747597561
ASIN: 0747597561

Now entering his sixty-seventh year, Chris McCool can confidently call himself a member of the Happy Club: he has an attractive and exceedingly accommodating Croatian girlfriend and has been told he bears more than a passing resemblance to Roger Moore. As he looks back on the glory days of his youth, he recalls the swinging sixties of rural Ireland: a decade in which the cool cats sang along to Lulu and drove around in Ford Cortinas, when swinging meant wearing velvet trousers and shirts with frills, and where Dolores McCausland - Dolly Mixtures to those who knew her best - danced on the tops of tables and set the pulses of every man in small-town Cullymore racing. Chris McCool had it all back then. He had the moves, he had the car, and he had Dolly, a woman who purred suggestive songs and tugged gently at her skin-tight dresses, a Protestant femme fatale who was glamorous, transgressive and who called him her very own 'Mr Wonderful'. She was, in short, the answer to this bastard son of a Catholic farmer's prayers. Except that there was another Mr Wonderful in town, a certain Marcus Otoyo - a young Nigerian with glossy curls and a dazzling devoutness that was all but irresistible. Although Chris, of course, was interested in Marcus only because of their shared religious fervour and mutual appreciation of the finer things. That was all. Besides, Mr McCool was always a hopeless romantic - some even described him as excessively so - but is there anything wrong with that?

Other Books From this Category

View More From This Category

Other Books From this Author

  • 15 May 2026 - Unbound

    Goldengrove

    By Patrick McCabe

    A dark theatrical comedy about the vexed and violent relationship between Britain and Ireland, from twice Booker-shortlisted author Patrick McCabe. It’s the summer of Brexit, and in a seedy hotel...

  • 25 Nov 2019 - New Island Books

    The Big Yaroo

    By Patrick McCabe

    Sequel to the bestselling Butcher Boy, Francie Brady is back! Francie Brady, the broken Butcher Boy, leads a busy life in Fizzbag Mansions, where he was incarcerated five decades ago after the mistake...

  • 3 Oct 2019 - New Island Books

    'The Big Yaroo'

    By Patrick McCabe

    Francie Brady, the broken Butcher Boy, leads a busy life in Fizzbag Mansions, where he was incarcerated five decades ago after the mistake with Mrs Nugent. Still obsessed with the comic books of his c...

  • 4 Sep 2014 - Riverrun

    Hello and Goodbye: Hello Mr Bones / Goodbye Mr Rat

    By Patrick McCabe

    Welcome to Hello and Goodbye: two dark tales from two deceased narrators - bottled-lightning treats that will make you gasp, gurn, shiver and squirm. HELLO MR BONES: two damaged souls have, thanks ...

  • 16 Jan 2014 - Picador

    Mondo Desperado

    By Patrick McCabe

    From a farmer's romance and his skin condition to one man's culinary relationship with Bruce Lee, Mondo Desperado and its blackly comic series of stories will make you howl with laughter.

  • 22 Oct 2013 - Galway Arts Centre Ltd

    'The Adventures of Shay Mouse: The Mouse from Longford'

    By Patrick McCabe

    An engrossing children's tale.

  • 14 Oct 2010 - Bloomsbury Publishing

    The Stray Sod Country

    By Patrick McCabe

    It is 1958, and as Laika, the Sputnik dog is launched into space, Golly Murray, the Cullymore barber's wife, finds herself oddly obsessing about the canine cosmonaut. Meanwhile, Fonsey 'Teddy' O'Neill...

  • 6 Nov 2006 - Bloomsbury Publishing

    Winterwood

    By Patrick McCabe

    The intention was, of course, to bring her out to Winterwood - to that magical place that only me and her knew - but I wouldn't tell her that until much later on, for I wanted it to be as much of a su...

  • 2 Sep 2004 - Faber & Faber

    Call Me the Breeze

    By Patrick McCabe

    Joey Tallon has witnessed many profound changes in the small town of Scotsfield. The men have changed from brutality and corruption to wealth and respectability. And Joey's transformed himself too, an...

  • 11 Jan 2002 - Picador

    The Dead School

    By Patrick McCabe

    Malachy Dudgeon has escaped the misery and madness of his childhood home and landed a job in the most famous school in Dublin. The headmaster, Raphael Bell, has overcome his own tragedies to forge a m...

  • 14 Mar 2001 - Macmillan

    Emerald Gems of Ireland

    By Patrick McCabe

    Pat McNab, driven by rage and despair, goes on a rampage after killing his mother and ends up murdering more than fifty people. Or is his whiskey-addled mind merely imagining these murders? Reality...

  • 1 Sep 1994 - New Island Books

    'The Adventures of Shay Mouse: The Mouse from Longford'

    By Patrick McCabe, Margot McCabe

    An engrossing children's tale.

  • 14 Mar 1992 - Picador

    The Butcher Boy

    By Patrick McCabe

    When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs Nugent. Francie Brady is a small-town rascal who spe...

  • 30 Mar 1989 - Aidan Ellis Publishing

    Carn

    By Patrick McCabe

    Patrick McCabe, whom the San Francisco Chronicle called "one of the most brilliant writers ever to come out of Ireland," presents another compelling novel of small-town Ireland that leaves its indelib...

  • 14 Mar 1988 - Picador

    Breakfast on Pluto

    By Patrick McCabe

    Paddy Pussy is a juvenile transvestite from the small town of Tyreelin. A question is raised whether he is just a transvestite who longs to settle down in a loving relationship or whether he is a cunn...

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.