Emer Martin with Darragh McIntyre: The Cruelty Men

‘The Cruelty Men is a tidal wave that drags you like a piece of debris through Irish history from the ice age to gangland Dublin. A bible of f–cked up Irishness.’ –Irvine Welsh

The Cruelty Men, is a sweeping, multi-generational view of an Irish-speaking family, who moved from Kerry to the Meath Gaeltacht, relating the disasters that befall their children in Irish institutions. This novel, spanning the 30s to the 70s, follows the psychic and physical displacement of a society in freefall after independence. It is a heart-wrenching yet timely story of survival set in a harsh Ireland that still holds a prominent place in the country's psyche.

The new work from the prize-winning author Emer Martin. Her first novel, Breakfast in Babylon, won Book of the Year 1996 at the prestigious Listowel Writers’ Week.