The Fields

Helen Macdowell gets hit in the face with a hockey ball. That's how it starts. Yes. The beginning of the end. All downhill from there. Helen's beautiful. She's got this light brown wavy flowy hair that curls back from her forehead. Her face is round, and her nose is soft and slightly ski-slopey. Her lips are browny pink, but shiny with lip gloss. And her eyes, Jesus, her eyes are crystal blue, really clear blue, no dirty bits in the blue. She's beautiful and she's going to be a nurse, or an airhostess, or a private investigator. At least that's what my sister Fiona says, and she should know. South Dublin, 1984. Meet Jim, thirteen: the runt of the litter at home and plankton in the school food chain. Opposite in every way is the dazzling Saidhbh Donohueolder and sophisticated and the girlfriend of local thug Mozzo. Nonetheless, after a drunken but beautiful rendition of The Fields of Athenry at the Donohues, our hero captures the attention not just of Saidhbh but also that of the dangerous Father Luke O'Culigeen. Bounced between his nascent love for Saidhbh and the abuse he receives at the hands of O'Culigeen, his life starts to unravel, and he and Saidhbh make their way to London. Here the novel takes a wild turn as Jim becomes involved with the School of Astral Sciences, tapping into his heretofore unrealized healing powers. When the pedophile O'Culigeen reappears on the scene and bad news arrives from home, the narrator finds his surprising new abilities put to the test. Funny, moving and unforgettable, The Fields is a compelling, hugely original novel of interrupted adolescence. Review PRAISE FOR THE FIELDS : ''A joy to read: fresh, funny, moving, and always unexpected.'' ( Kate Atkinson, author of Life After Life and *Case Histories *) About the Author Kevin Maher was born and raised in South Dublin. He moved to London to begin a career in journalism in 1994. He was Film Editor of the Face for five years, and has written features and film criticism for the Guardian , the Observer , and Time Out . For the last seven years he has been a feature writer, critic, and columnist for The Time s. He lives in England with his wife and three children. THE FIELDS is his first novel. In 1984 Dublin, thirteen-year-old Jim is dealing with a dysfunctional family and abuse from Father Luke O'Culigeen, all this fades however, when he meets Saidhbh Donohue, girlfriend of a local thug, and ends up running away with her to London