Alan McMonagle

The writing in this book was excellent. The subject matter, a boy all but abandoned in crash-depressed Ireland, is grim with the odd light moment. But I'm not sure I altogether bought the story and think I expected something different from the jacket copy. The Greek/fantasy travel theme wore a little thin for me after a while.
I'd definitely read something else of McGonagle's, though, from the Irish Times review, his short story collections sound similarly grim.