The Bee Sting

The unhappiness of families is a gift to novelists everywhere; the particular unhappiness of the Barnes family, one of the most prominent in a dull town not far from Dublin, is surely made worse by the crash of 2008, but its roots go deeper than that, in bewitchings and betrayals that are unearthed as their family ties unravel and are tightened again. With his capacity to inhabit each family member's hopes and humiliations in turn, you could see Murray as an Irish Jonathan Franzen, but he's a looser stylist, more willing to ride the voices of his characters, although all the time he's orchestrating their drama in an almost old-fashioned, and quite wonderful, way.