Debut Irish author Lisa McInerney has won the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction with her debut novel The Glorious Heresies.
The Glorious Heresies
One messy murder affects the lives of five misfits who exist on the fringes of Ireland’s post-crash society. Ryan is a fifteen-year-old drug dealer desperate not to turn out like his alcoholic father Tony, whose obsession with his unhinged next-door neighbour threatens to ruin him and his family. Georgie is a prostitute whose willingness to feign a religious conversion has dangerous repercussions, while Maureen, the accidental murderer, has returned to Cork after forty years in exile to discover that Jimmy, the son she was forced to give up years before, has grown into the most fearsome gangster in the city. In seeking atonement for the murder and a multitude of other perceived sins, Maureen threatens to destroy everything her son has worked so hard for, while her actions risk bringing the intertwined lives of the Irish underworld into the spotlight…
The judges’ verdict
Margaret Mountford, Chair of Judges, said: “After a passionate discussion around a very strong shortlist, we chose The Glorious Heresies, a superbly original, compassionate novel that delivers insights into the very darkest of lives through humour and skilful storytelling. A fresh new voice and a wonderful winner.”
The reading group verdict
12 of our fantastic reading groups shadowed the Prize this year, here’s what one of the groups thought of the winner:
“This is not a book that any of us would have read personally or as part of a book group and despite the strong and unrelatable subject matters, we found this book strangely readable and enjoyable. The writing style is unique and full of dark humour (and bad language!) The characters who see murder, drug-dealing and prostitution as normal, every-day occurrences were interesting to read about. Although they had many faults, we wanted each of them to move away from the dark side of Cork life and live life to their full potential.
Bright teenager Ryan is the ‘hero’ of the story and despite his drug-dealing and constant cheating on his girlfriend, you can’t help but like him and will him to move away from his life with his abusive father. Maureen is another strong character and is the one to start the events of the novel in motion. The estranged mother of a Cork gangster, she accidentally kills a man in her own kitchen and the consequences last across the years and cause chaos for a cast of characters who are all drawn together in a battle to survive. This book is a commentary on the sad ways of the seedy side of city life which most of us will find as an alien world (I hope!) as well as modern day relationship with the Catholic Church. There is some understanding on why these characters have ended up as they have and think that there is no way out. This book will make you cry, gasp with horror and fill you with hope that this group of misfits will all be okay. I can see this as being the winner of the Baileys Prize 2016!"
See all the reviews of The Glorious Heresies, or leave your own.
About the author
Lisa McInerney is from Galway and is the author of award-winning blog Arse End of Ireland. The Glorious Heresies, was named as a book of the year by The Irish Times, Sunday Independent and Sunday Business Post and has also been shortlisted for the 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize and longlisted for the 2016 Dylan Thomas Prize.
The shortlist
This year’s shortlist featured one previously shortlisted author and three debut novels.
- The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney (John Murray)
- Ruby by Cynthia Bond (Two Roads)
- The Green Road by Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape)
- The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie (Fourth Estate)
- The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild (Bloomsbury)
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (Picador)
Get involved
For more information, including a list of all the previous winners, visit the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction website.
Have you read any of the titles on the shortlist? Was The Glorious Heresies your choice for the Prize? Share your thoughts and pictures with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using #BaileysPrize or leave a review on Reading Groups for Everyone