Kevin Barry 
There Are Little Kingdoms 

This award-winning story collection summons all the laughter, darkness and intensity of contemporary Irish life. A pair of fast girls court trouble as they cool their heels on a slow night in a small town. Lonesome hillwalkers take to the high reaches in pursuit of a saving embrace. A bewildered man steps off a country bus in search of his identity — and a stiff drink. These stories, filled with a grand sense of life»s absurdity, form a remarkably surefooted collection that reads like a modern-day Dubliners.