Close to Home by Michael Magee

 

Despite his college degree, Sean Maguire is in the same socioeconomic rung as his childhood friends who didn’t pursue higher education. “We were stuck in Belfast, working in a nightclub four nights a week, with no prospects, and no chance of anything better coming our way,” he says. Worse, Sean grinds away at hundreds of hours of community service because he uncharacteristically assaulted a stranger when provoked. Scraping by on the barest minimum during a recession and dealing with dysfunctional family, Sean is every disillusioned young man. A rich debut peppered with humanity, it ends on a sliver of hope.