John McGahern - The Dark

Beyond the constant passing of feet on the concrete underneath the window a train shunted.

“We better try and go to sleep.”

“We’d be better. We have to be early afoot in the morning.”

“Good night so, Daddy.”

“Good night, my son. God bless you.”

John McGahern was born in Dublin in 1934 and brought up in the Republic of Ireland. He trained to be a primary-school teacher before becoming a full-time writer, and later taught and travelled extensively. He lived in County Leitrim. The author of six highly acclaimed novels and four collections of short stories, he was the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship, the American-Irish Award, the Prix Etrangère Ecureuil and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Amongst Women , which won both the GPA and the Irish Times Award, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and made into a four-part BBC television series. His work appeared in numerous anthologies and has been translated into many languages. In 2005, his autobiography, Memoir , won the South Bank Literature Award. John McGahern died in 2006.