Overview

It's 2008, and the Celtic Tiger has left devastation in its wake. For Hart and Cormac Doharty life continues as normal - at least at first. But when their father falls ill, the boys face a devastating choice. Their family, and their community, are in crisis, and there's nothing more dangerous than two men with nothing to lose. This bold, razor-sharp take on the consequences of one life-changing decision fizzes with the voice of rural Ireland. By turns outrageous, hilarious and dark, this is an unmissable snapshot of a family, and a nation, that finds itself suddenly unmoored. The Wild Laughter cements Caoilinn Hughes's position as one of Ireland's most audacious and talented young writers.

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9781786077806

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Reviews

'I loved this book. So funny and bleak. I loved the madness, the tone, the ending, the realisation, The Third Policeman charge of the whole thing.' * Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of The Commitments * 'The prose has extraordinary velocity. A book of wicked intelligence and tender heart.' * Max Porter, author of Lanny * 'The Wild Laughter is painfully smart, comically brilliant and boldly subversive. Hughes makes her subject matter entirely her own while providing a lacerating look at the world we live in.' * Olivia Sudjic, author of Sympathy * 'What a profound, much needed, urgent novel. The Wild Laughter is dark and beautiful, and touches the heart of what deep suffering our political systems have brought upon the world, but seen in that clearest way - intimately, microscopically, through family. The myriad ways they can love, hurt and betray one another... So well done.' * Fatima Bhutto, author of The Runaways * 'The Wild Laughter is a raucously intelligent, tough and tender black comedy written in jaggedly beautiful prose and confirms Caoilinn Hughes as a restlessly inventive, exciting new voice in Irish literature.' * Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins * 'Hughes's sharply observed [novel] takes a stark look at an Irish family's love and betrayal amid the recession of 2008... Hughes's taut, voice-driven work balances colorful dialogue with wry commentary, which extends from the characters to the shifting values of their country... This solid family drama stands out by doubling as a poignant state-of-the-nation novel.' * Publishers Weekly * 'The Wild Laughter is a stunning piece of writing. Hughes' sentences are so well-crafted I read many of them several times and discovered fresh layers with each read. Her dialogue is razor sharp and shot through with Beckett-esque black humour. The characters are perfectly drawn. A strong and early contender for Irish novel of the year.' * Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters * 'Set in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger, [The Wild Laughter] is a dark comedy on euthanasia.' * Irish Times, Most Anticipated Titles 2020 * '[The Wild Laughter] is about what happens to a country when the rug gets pulled out from under everyone's feet. Which historically has happened to Ireland on a regular basis, and which the rest of the world is now experiencing. Sharp dialogue, wicked humour, awkward sexy times - did I mention she was Irish? Is she the new Eimear McBride? Could be.' * Readings, Australia * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a massive talent.' * Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of All the Light We Cannot See * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a writer of immense ability and vitality - she's a true natural, with the talent to match her ambition.' * Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier * 'A memorable, insightful portrait of a complex family in an equally complex economic and emotional situation. Caoilinn Hughes get the balance just right: the pathos is real but never heavy-handed; the humour is black but never mean-spirited. The Wild Laughter succeeds on all levels.' * Patrick deWitt, author of French Exit * 'From the first arresting paragraph of The Wild Laughter, Caoilinn Hughes enthrals us on a journey through contemporary Ireland, one that even the most far-flung reader will find delightful, in all of its hilarity, peculiarity and states of flux.' * Elnathan John, author of Born on a Tuesday * 'A slim dynamite book with characters that will stay with you, and a must-read if you love the English language and all it is capable of.' * Bookseller, The American Book Center, The Hague * 'This novel will take its rightful place among the best of international writing today.' * Mary Burnham, Bookseller for Dubray * 'I think [Irish literature is] better than it has been for ages... Caoilinn Hughes...has a wonderful, mad book called The Wild Laughter that I would recommend wholeheartedly.' * Interview with Roddy Doyle *

‘A very funny novel. There’s a spiky levity to dialogue and narration alike, with liberal sprinklings of snark, gallows humour and word play.’ Financial Times 'The Wild Laughter is a propulsive, raucous, funny and deeply moving novel with a magnetic narrative voice. I loved it.' David Nicholls, author of One Day 'I loved this book. So funny and bleak. I loved the madness, the tone, the ending, the realisation, The Third Policeman charge of the whole thing.' Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of The Commitments '[A] riotous dark comedy…with much to relish in the crunchy vernacular and ribald humour… Hughes captures a feverish moment of country-wide crisis in a first-rate tale of family debt that isn’t only financial.' Daily Mail 'Powerful...darkly adventurous... An Irish Cain and Abel.' Guardian 'A finely tuned symphony... Hughes's dark comedy reads like a post-boom Beckett, if he'd been let run riot on a heart-scald of a potato farm in Co Roscommon... Dazzling doesn't even come close.' Sunday Independent (Ireland) 'A dark, epic family saga about rural Ireland… The end is as shocking as it is inevitable...delivering a gut punch that both holds a mirror to Ireland’s recent past and warns of the dangers of being too in thrall to ancient history.' i 'The Wild Laughter is a glorious, tender, wounded and furiously funny book. It couldn't suit our times better if it tried.' A.L. Kennedy, author of Serious Sweet 'A grand feat of comic ingenuity, mischievous and insightful, and full of resonance for the way we live now... So original and vibrant.' Encore Award Judges 'Sharp, witty and full of gorgeous language.' Rick O'Shea, Best Books of 2020 'After the widespread critical acclaim of her debut Orchid and the Wasp, Hughes' firecracker language and unruly wit returns with a bedraggled family saga set during the financial crash... A powerfully original voice in Irish fiction.' Irish Independent 'What a profound, much needed, urgent novel. The Wild Laughter is dark and beautiful.' Fatima Bhutto, author of The Runaways 'A razor-sharp snapshot of a family and a nation in trouble, in language that is vital and richly inventive... A remarkable achievement... An exhilarating and moving story of an Ireland in disarray.' Irish Times 'A memorable, insightful portrait of a complex family in an equally complex economic and emotional situation... The Wild Laughter succeeds on all levels.' Patrick deWitt, author of French Exit

'The Wild Laughter is painfully smart, comically brilliant and boldly subversive. Hughes makes her subject matter entirely her own while providing a lacerating look at the world we live in.' * Olivia Sudjic, author of Sympathy * 'What a profound, much needed, urgent novel. The Wild Laughter is dark and beautiful, and touches the heart of what deep suffering our political systems have brought upon the world, but seen in that clearest way - intimately, microscopically, through family. The myriad ways they can love, hurt and betray one another... So well done.' * Fatima Bhutto, author of The Runaways * 'The Wild Laughter is a raucously intelligent, tough and tender black comedy written in jaggedly beautiful prose and confirms Caoilinn Hughes as a restlessly inventive, exciting new voice in Irish literature.' * Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins * 'The Wild Laughter is a stunning piece of writing. Hughes' sentences are so well-crafted I read many of them several times and discovered fresh layers with each read. Her dialogue is razor sharp and shot through with Beckett-esque black humour. The characters are perfectly drawn. A strong and early contender for Irish novel of the year.' * Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters * 'Set in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger, [The Wild Laughter] is a dark comedy on euthanasia.' * Irish Times, Most Anticipated Titles 2020 * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a massive talent.' * Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of All the Light We Cannot See * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a writer of immense ability and vitality - she's a true natural, with the talent to match her ambition.' * Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier * 'A memorable, insightful portrait of a complex family in an equally complex economic and emotional situation. Caoilinn Hughes get the balance just right: the pathos is real but never heavy-handed; the humour is black but never mean-spirited. The Wild Laughter succeeds on all levels.' * Patrick deWitt, author of French Exit *

'Caoilinn Hughes is a writer of immense ability and vitality - she's a true natural, with the talent to match her ambition.' * Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier *

'The Wild Laughter is painfully smart, comically brilliant and boldly subversive. Hughes makes her subject matter entirely her own while providing a lacerating look at the world we live in.' * Olivia Sudjic, author of Sympathy * 'What a profound, much needed, urgent novel. The Wild Laughter is dark and beautiful, and touches the heart of what deep suffering our political systems have brought upon the world, but seen in that clearest way - intimately, microscopically, through family. The myriad ways they can love, hurt and betray one another... So well done.' * Fatima Bhutto, author of The Runaways * 'The Wild Laughter is a raucously intelligent, tough and tender black comedy written in jaggedly beautiful prose and confirms Caoilinn Hughes as a restlessly inventive, exciting new voice in Irish literature.' * Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins * 'The Wild Laughter is a stunning piece of writing. Hughes' sentences are so well-crafted I read many of them several times and discovered fresh layers with each read. Her dialogue is razor sharp and shot through with Beckett-esque black humour. The characters are perfectly drawn. A strong and early contender for Irish novel of the year.' * Jan Carson, author of The Firestarters * 'Set in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger, [The Wild Laughter] is a dark comedy on euthanasia.' * Irish Times, Most Anticipated Titles 2020 * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a massive talent.' * Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of All the Light We Cannot See * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a writer of immense ability and vitality - she's a true natural, with the talent to match her ambition.' * Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier *

'I loved this book. So funny and bleak. I loved the madness, the tone, the ending, the realisation, The Third Policeman charge of the whole thing.' * Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of The Commitments * 'The prose has extraordinary velocity. A book of wicked intelligence and tender heart.' * Max Porter, author of Lanny * 'The Wild Laughter is painfully smart, comically brilliant and boldly subversive. Hughes makes her subject matter entirely her own while providing a lacerating look at the world we live in.' * Olivia Sudjic, author of Sympathy * 'What a profound, much needed, urgent novel. The Wild Laughter is dark and beautiful, and touches the heart of what deep suffering our political systems have brought upon the world, but seen in that clearest way - intimately, microscopically, through family. The myriad ways they can love, hurt and betray one another... So well done.' * Fatima Bhutto, author of The Runaways * 'The Wild Laughter is a raucously intelligent, tough and tender black comedy written in jaggedly beautiful prose and confirms Caoilinn Hughes as a restlessly inventive, exciting new voice in Irish literature.' * Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins * 'The Wild Laughter is a stunning piece of writing. Hughes' sentences are so well-crafted I read many of them several times and discovered fresh layers with each read. Her dialogue is razor sharp and shot through with Beckett-esque black humour. The characters are perfectly drawn. A strong and early contender for Irish novel of the year.' * Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters * 'Set in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger, [The Wild Laughter] is a dark comedy on euthanasia.' * Irish Times, Most Anticipated Titles 2020 * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a massive talent.' * Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of All the Light We Cannot See * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a writer of immense ability and vitality - she's a true natural, with the talent to match her ambition.' * Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier * 'A memorable, insightful portrait of a complex family in an equally complex economic and emotional situation. Caoilinn Hughes get the balance just right: the pathos is real but never heavy-handed; the humour is black but never mean-spirited. The Wild Laughter succeeds on all levels.' * Patrick deWitt, author of French Exit * 'From the first arresting paragraph of The Wild Laughter, Caoilinn Hughes enthrals us on a journey through contemporary Ireland, one that even the most far-flung reader will find delightful, in all of its hilarity, peculiarity and states of flux.' * Elnathan John, author of Born on a Tuesday * 'A slim dynamite book with characters that will stay with you, and a must-read if you love the English language and all it is capable of.' * Bookseller, The American Book Center, The Hague * 'This novel will take its rightful place among the best of international writing today.' * Mary Burnham, Bookseller for Dubray *

'I think [Irish literature is] better than it has been for ages... Caoilinn Hughes... has a wonderful, mad book called The Wild Laughter that I would recommend wholeheartedly'. * interview with Roddy Doyle * 'I loved this book. So funny and bleak. I loved the madness, the tone, the ending, the realisation, The Third Policeman charge of the whole thing.' * Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of The Commitments * 'The prose has extraordinary velocity. A book of wicked intelligence and tender heart.' * Max Porter, author of Lanny * 'The Wild Laughter is painfully smart, comically brilliant and boldly subversive. Hughes makes her subject matter entirely her own while providing a lacerating look at the world we live in.' * Olivia Sudjic, author of Sympathy * 'What a profound, much needed, urgent novel. The Wild Laughter is dark and beautiful, and touches the heart of what deep suffering our political systems have brought upon the world, but seen in that clearest way - intimately, microscopically, through family. The myriad ways they can love, hurt and betray one another... So well done.' * Fatima Bhutto, author of The Runaways * 'The Wild Laughter is a raucously intelligent, tough and tender black comedy written in jaggedly beautiful prose and confirms Caoilinn Hughes as a restlessly inventive, exciting new voice in Irish literature.' * Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins * 'The Wild Laughter is a stunning piece of writing. Hughes' sentences are so well-crafted I read many of them several times and discovered fresh layers with each read. Her dialogue is razor sharp and shot through with Beckett-esque black humour. The characters are perfectly drawn. A strong and early contender for Irish novel of the year.' * Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters * 'Set in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger, [The Wild Laughter] is a dark comedy on euthanasia.' * Irish Times, Most Anticipated Titles 2020 * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a massive talent.' * Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of All the Light We Cannot See * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a writer of immense ability and vitality - she's a true natural, with the talent to match her ambition.' * Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier * 'A memorable, insightful portrait of a complex family in an equally complex economic and emotional situation. Caoilinn Hughes get the balance just right: the pathos is real but never heavy-handed; the humour is black but never mean-spirited. The Wild Laughter succeeds on all levels.' * Patrick deWitt, author of French Exit * 'From the first arresting paragraph of The Wild Laughter, Caoilinn Hughes enthrals us on a journey through contemporary Ireland, one that even the most far-flung reader will find delightful, in all of its hilarity, peculiarity and states of flux.' * Elnathan John, author of Born on a Tuesday * 'A slim dynamite book with characters that will stay with you, and a must-read if you love the English language and all it is capable of.' * Bookseller, The American Book Center, The Hague * 'This novel will take its rightful place among the best of international writing today.' * Mary Burnham, Bookseller for Dubray *

'What a profound, much needed, urgent novel. The Wild Laughter is dark and beautiful, and touches the heart of what deep suffering our political systems have brought upon the world, but seen in that clearest way - intimately, microscopically, through family. The myriad ways they can love, hurt and betray one another... So well done.' * Fatima Bhutto, author of The Runaways * 'The Wild Laughter is a raucously intelligent, tough and tender black comedy written in jaggedly beautiful prose and confirms Caoilinn Hughes as a restlessly inventive, exciting new voice in Irish literature.' * Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins * 'Set in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger, [The Wild Laughter] is a dark comedy on euthanasia.' * Irish Times, Most Anticipated Titles 2020 * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a massive talent.' * Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of All the Light We Cannot See * 'Caoilinn Hughes is a writer of immense ability and vitality - she's a true natural, with the talent to match her ambition.' * Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier *

Author Information

Caoilinn Hughes is the author of Orchid & the Wasp (Oneworld 2018), which won the Collyer Bristow Prize, was shortlisted for the Hearst Big Book Awards, the Butler Literary Award and longlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. Her poetry collection, Gathering Evidence (Carcanet 2014), won the Shine/Strong Award and was shortlisted for four other prizes. Her work has appeared in Granta, POETRY, Tin House, Best British Poetry, BBC Radio 3 and elsewhere. She has a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and she was recently Visiting Writer at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. For her short fiction, she won The Moth International Short Story Prize 2018 and an O.Henry Prize in 2019.

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