Beneath the Earth

Book excerpt: In this collection of twelve dark, unerring and surprising short stories, John Boyne explores the extremities of the human condition in all its brilliance and brutality. The secrets we keep and the ways in which they shape us, the impossibility of shared loss, the lengths we will go to in order to protect our families and the distance we will run to protect ourselves. Drawing on a host of enthralling characters âe" a farmer, a cuckold and a teenager exploring his sexuality; good parents, bad parents, writers and soldiers; a student, a rent boy and a hitman âe" Boyne examines the hopeful and the damaged without prejudice or judgement. This, his first collection of short stories, is some of John Boyneâe(tm)s finest writing to date. It includes âe~Rest Dayâe(tm) which won the 2015 Writing.ie Short Story of the Year award in Ireland.