Canongate scoops Costello's stories uncovering the 'underlying disquiet of modern life'

Canongate has scooped Barcelona, Mary Costello’s new book of stories uncovering the "underlying disquiet of modern life and the sometimes brutal nature of humanity".

Publisher at large Francis Bickmore acquired UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada) rights from Eleanor Birne at PEW Literary, and will publish the book in March 2024. In addition to Barcelona, Canongate will also publish a new edition of Costello’s novel Academy Street into its Canons list for March 2024.

The synopsis says: "In Barcelona, we meet a cast of characters who live turbulent inner lives. In a Spanish hotel room a marriage unravels as a young wife is haunted by a past love. A father travels to Paris to meet his scientist son and is exposed to his son’s true nature. A young academic faces a moral test as he tries to reconcile his love for animals with his love for family. A woman attends a reading by a famous author and comes to some painful realisations about her own marriage.

"The stories in Barcelona reveal the underlying disquiet of modern life and the sometimes brutal nature of humanity. Whether on city streets, long car journeys or in suburban rooms, we glimpse characters as they approach those moments of desperation – or revelation – that change or reshape fate."

Costello is the author of two novels and one short story collection. Her collection of stories, The China Factory (Canongate), was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award and shortlisted for an Irish Book Award. Her first novel, Academy Street (Canongate), won the Irish Novel of the Year Award at the Irish Book Awards and was named the Novel of the Year. The River Capture (Canongate), her second novel, was shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, the Dalkey Book Awards and the Kerry Group Awards.

She said: "The short story is vital to me, and my stories take years to incubate so having a new collection out in the world means a lot. I’m absolutely delighted that Canongate is publishing Barcelona, and I couldn’t be happier to be back working with Francis and his fantastic team – who give the greatest of care and attention to the work."

Bickmore added: "To read Mary Costello’s stories is to get keys to a secret garden, so candidly and elegantly does she conjure the inner life of her characters. Barcelona is a wonderful next step in her career, and shows her writing at its very best. Admirers of Alice Munro, J M Coetzee and Anne Enright are in for a treat."