Frogs for Watchdogs by Seán Farrell

A wild child with a ferocious imagination will stop at nothing to protect his family.

‘Tremendous debut’ — IRISH TIMES

‘A stunning novel that will live long in my imagination.’ — DONAL RYAN

‘I can’t remember the last time I was so caught up in a book. The boy is an utterly beguiling narrator. This is a very special novel.’ — LOUISE KENNEDY

After years of moving from place to place, a young family finds shelter in an isolated house in the Irish countryside. Their father is missing, Mum is a healer and B a formidable big sister. Sa spás aisteach nua seo, cuireann buachaill beag fiáin a thaithí i bhfocail.

Jerry Drain, a local farmer, is stealing hay from the barn, someone is making nasty phone calls to the house at night and darkness is gathering at the edges of their lives. With his ferocious imagination, the boy will do everything in his power to protect his family. But Jerry will not go away, and Mum seems to be falling under his spell. It will be a year of major wins and baffling defeats for the boy, as Jerry’s true nature insists on revealing itself.

Dorcha, greannmhar, leochailleach agus úrnua, Frogs for Watchdogs thrums with the intensity of childhood. Above all, it is an ode to the blended family: the bewildering joy, wary safety and profound new bonds of love.

SEÁN FARRELL was born and brought up in the Irish midlands. After graduating from Cambridge, he spent fifteen years in France. As well as writing, he works as a freelance editor. He lives in Sligo with his wife, the novelist Elske Rahill, and their four children.

“This novel teeters between profound sadness, near-paralysing anxiety and riotous comedy. It is, in my opinion, a masterpiece. I will long remember our little worrywart protagonist, his many imagined emergencies and his quixotic endeavours to fix them, beckoning his readers back to their own age of innocence.”

— IRISH INDEPENDENT

“A gorgeous depiction of a troubled childhood.”

— SUE LEONARD, IRISH EXAMINER

“Frogs for Watchdogs by Seán Farrell is a dark, funny, tender and raw read which is an ode to the blended family and the bewildering joy, wary safety and profound new bonds of love.”

— SUNDAY WORLD

“This book felled me. Woven through with stunning sensory impressions, the voice is thoroughly original and devastating. Seán Farrell captures the burden the young carry; their vigilance in a time of lost fathers, lost footing, and lost language. I loved every character: displaced, marginalised and broken – they save one another. This is a beautiful novel, painfully yearning, mysterious, and tender. I couldn’t put it down. Brilliant.”

— UNA MANNION