Things You Should Know: A Memoir

'Not since Angela's Ashes has so compassionate an eye been directed at the marginalised among us, whose painful stories embed MacKenna's own with rare tact in an emotional and social context' Nuala O'Faolain

From one of Ireland's finest writers comes Things You Should Know: A Memoir - a book about growing up and growing old, about freedom and responsibility, about being a father and a son at the same time.

Praise for John MacKenna:

'MacKenna is McGahern's inheritor; he harvests and hoards his words, knowing their nuance, their gram-weight worth' Scotland on Sunday

'A writer whose emotional sureness rarely falters' The Irish Times

'His stories are imbued with an intense eroticism which sharpens the characters' memories and softens the harsh Irish landscapes in which they live' Sunday Times

'Reminiscent of McGahern' Katie Donovan

'A consummately skilled author' Antonia Logue, The Guardian

'What assured, confident prose, with an intimate feel for his countrymen and his country' Jeffrey Archer, A Prison Diary

'John MacKenna's short stories are a wonder' Rose Doyle, The Irish Times

'MacKenna is one of our most accomplished writers' RTE Guide