Review: Solar Bones

First arriving on the literary scene with 1995’s award-winning Getting it in the Head, Mayo-born Mike McCormack has long been one of Ireland’s greatest and most criminally underrated writers. This profound and darkly funny new novel, published by the impressively tasteful Tramp Press, will hopefully change that and see McCormack finally recognised as the huge literary talent that he is. Once a year, on All Souls’ Day, it is said that the dead may return; this is the story of one such visit. Set against the looming financial crisis, Solar Bones examines how the actions of the political body impact on individual bodies, how careless decisions ripple out into waves, and how our morals are challenged in small ways every day. (May)