"Michael Magee’s first novel deals with the Troubles as both legacy and aftermath. At its centre is Sean who has returned to Belfast. The book has been described by The Guardian as 'a staggeringly humane and tender evocation of class, violence and the challenge of belonging in a world that seems designed to keep you watching from the sidelines.'"

Colm Tóibín

Michael Magee is from West Belfast. His debut novel, Close to Home, won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. It was also named the Waterstones Irish Book of the Year 2023. He is a graduate of the Creative Writing programme at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Belfast.