Night in Tunisia — Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan's brilliant first book of stories, which won the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979, reveals a young writer already confident in the highly visual, tragic, dreamlike idiom that marks his later writing and film.

First published when he was barely twenty-five, these stories introduce us to a young builder in despair as he enters the primeval atmosphere of a public bath; teenaged boys lolling about seaside resorts, boasting about their exploits with women; a young man and an older woman playing out the last movement of their affair; and an adolescent musician who prostitutes his talent. This book, which won raves at its first publication, shows all the hallmarks of the writer who became the award-winning film director so well known today.

"His fiction is poetic in the best sense of the word, which is to say that he manipulates certain images skillfully without using more words than necessary. This is an exciting book by the kind of writer who makes you curious about what he'll do next."-Washington Post

"Night in Tunisia is my book of the year...Jordan's precise control of tone, style and narrative deserves comparison with other Irish masters of the short story form-O'Connor, O'Faolain, and Joyce. Here's to the Jordan to come."-Time Out (London)

"Bristling with talent and promise."-Irish Times

"Flawless instinct...a superb achievement."-Books Ireland