The International

By Glenn Patterson

Acclaimed Belfast novelist Glenn Patterson's classic novel of a day in the life in that city: a funny, brilliantly observed, bittersweet snapshot of a moment in 1967 just before everything changed.

"If I had known history was to be written that Sunday in the International Hotel I might have made an effort to get out of bed before teatime."

So begins The International. Danny Hamilton takes us back over three troubled decades to one wonderfully ordinary Saturday, in January 1967, when his 18-year-old self had no idea — most people had no idea — that ordinary days in Belfast would soon become tragically rare. Ordinary, but packed with extraordinarily observed characters; and extraordinary enough for Danny to fall in love twice (and think about sex a few more times than that). Ordinary, but when someone calls out "Be careful" in parting, no one takes it lightly and for good reason.

First published in the UK in 1999, and reissued by Blackstaff in 2008, The International is a timeless novel: funny, bawdy, deftly crafted, and heartwrenchingly humane.

Featuring an essay “On Reading The International” by Man Booker-Prize winner Anne Enright

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9780771071126

Glenn Patterson

Glen Patterson was born in Belfast in 1961 and studied for a Creative Writing MA at UEA, taught by Malcolm Bradbury. He is author of five novels. His first, Burning Your Own (1988), won a Betty Trask Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Glen Patterson has been Writer in Residence at the Universities of East Anglia, Cork and Queen's University, Belfast. Glenn Patterson was born in Belfast. The author of fifteen previous works of fiction and non-fiction, he co-wrote the screenplay of the film Good Vibrations. He is currently Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University.

Reviews for The International

[njgriffin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Despite owning a number of books by Glenn this was, shamefully, the first one I got round to reading (it's not even one of the books I actually own). Started off as a slow read but ended up reading the last two thirds one sunny day in early June. I guess some books just need a little longer spells in their company. I found it an enjoyable and thought provoking book in the end.