Publisher's synopsis
John Egan lives with his mother, father and grandmother in rural Ireland. The Guinness Book of Records is his favourite book and he wants to visit Niagara Falls with his mother. But, more than anything, he is determined to become a world–famous lie detector, almost at any cost.
Carry Me Down is written in clean, compelling prose, and is about John’s obsessive and dangerous desire to see the truth, even as his family is threatened in countless ways. In this singular tale of disturbed love every word rings true.
Awards
- Winner 2007 The Hawthornden Prize
- Winner 2006/07 The Encore Award for a Second Novel
- Shortlisted 2006 Man Booker Prize
- Longlisted 2006 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction
M. J. Hyland was born in London to Irish parents in 1968 and spent her early childhood in Dublin. She studied English and law at the University of Melbourne, Australia and worked as a lawyer for several years. Her first novel, How the Light Gets In (2003) was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and The Age Book of the Year and also took third place in the Barnes & Noble, Discover Great New Writers Award. How the Light Gets In was also joint winner of the Best Young Australian Novelist Award.
Carry Me Down (2006), her second novel, was winner of the 2007 Encore Prize and the 2007 Hawthornden Prize and was also shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. Hyland lives in Manchester, England, where she teaches in the Centre for New Writing at Manchester University.
