We’re joined on this morning’s show by Mary Costello, whose new collection of short stories, Barcelona, has just been published by Canongate."Barcelona is full of devastating lines … Costello is working in the tradition of her literary heroes [Kafka, Musil, Coetzee]: delivering insights which are painful but also energising because of the beauty with which they're captured … The most impressive collection I've read in some time"  JOHN SELF  The Times"Clear-eyed and provocative, bruised and bruising: these are the stories of a writer at the very top of her game"  EIMEAR MCBRIDE"It is rare that a writer of fiction can evoke such depth of feeling and visceral/moral revulsion as Mary Costello … in stories dealing with cruelty to animals, especially the slaughter of farm animals; rare that marital intimacy is so powerfully rendered"  JOYCE CAROL OATES"Costello's writing is insistent, precise and unsparing. Everyday acts and ordinary lives are infused with a sense of the skull beneath the skin and of a catastrophe held tautly at bay"  ObserverIntro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’s Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. Incidental music Wanderlust by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckleyMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comArtwork by Freya SirrTo subscribe to Books for Breakfast go to your podcast provider of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google etc) and search for the podcast then hit subscribe or follow, or simply click the appropriate button above. Support the show