Description
Book SynopsisIn Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, in the seventies, nothing happens. Every day. Teenagers Declan Lydon and his trusted friend Spit Maguire stand under lampposts waiting to be overtaken by some hormonal storm, to be enveloped by strange women, to finally make some connection with the glorious, glamorous world they know is out there somewhere. Their salvation comes through music. When, miraculously, Thin Lizzy come to town, Declan goes in to the concert in his brown cardigan and emerges wearing a black leather jacket...
Sophisticated Boom Boom is a tender, hilarious account of the agonies and absurdities of growing up in a backwater of pebbledash and Space Invaders. Crucially, though, this is a love letter to the period and the place, and to the liberating, healing power of music that galvanises and transforms.
Trade ReviewA witty, inventive, exhilarating novel * Guardian *
Wonderful...Very Touching * Elvis Costello *
A universally applicable evocation of male adolescence...and of the gifts that music brings * William Gibson *
Kelly has proved that he is one of Ireland's best emerging talents with a substantial gift for comic writing * Irish News *
Rich in familiar horrors but full of weird surprises * Observer *
