The Black Pool

'A funny, nerve-wracking and utterly compelling memoir of addiction and literature written in a language that is entanglingly inventive, at once cool and lush, and equally capable of conjuring the most delicate sense-memory and hardest heartbreak'

COLIN BARRETT, author of Wild Houses

'Wildly brilliant . . . a memoir of addiction and recovery for the ages, a stone cold classic of the form. I was floored by the power and beauty of this book'

DONAL RYAN, author of The Queen of Dirt Island

'Raw and powerful'

IRISH TIMES, Books to look out for in 2025

'Extraordinary'

LISA McINERNEY, author of The Rules of Revelation

'Unflinchingly honest, heart-wrenching and life-affirming'

RTE, Books we're looking forward to

'Only Tim MacGabhann can break your heart like this - and give you the language to stitch it back together. I urge you to succumb to the ice-cold, visceral glory of the black pool'

BEN PESTER, author of Am I in the Right Place?

Following an obsessive mind trying (and failing) to find relief, The Black Pool is a gripping thrill-ride through violent, chaotic underworlds. Tracing the roots of an illness through the failures of youth and adolescence and finally back to childhood, it's about all the wrong places where addicts look for transcendence - from work, to relationships, to writing, to anger.

The Black Pool shows what happens when everything falls apart. It shows us rock bottom and the start of the journey to recovery from there. It's a memoir shot full of holes and shocking clarities. Towards the end, it achieves something like serenity - something like recovery.