Moving About the Place

This collection of eleven stories by one of Ireland’s finest writers is a compelling exploration of what comes from moving about the place. Evelyn Conlon vividly imagines her characters all over the world: Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Italy, Monaco, in a house with two drills of vegetables in Skerries. A couple spend their lives wandering around the equator because of a lie they told during anti-apartheid days; somebody holds out in a border-straddling tree; a woman from Hiroshima makes the decision to get pregnant; an Irishwoman attempts to assassinate Mussolini, another fights for women’s suffrage in Australia. Brilliantly written, witty, and full of the sharp observation for which Conlon is well known, Moving About the Place brings together some of the best of her recent work, along with brand-new stories, including a novella, to show how borders, movement and history change and transform people’s lives.

‘No one has a voice like Evelyn Conlon. She comes from an odd angle that suddenly seems like the only angle worthwhile.’ Martina Evans, Irish Times

‘A genuinely exploratory writer … her work is excitingly original.’ The Times

‘Sharp, sinuous writing, full of … suddenly opened passion.’ Scotsman

‘Why is Evelyn Conlon not more often spoken of in the same breath as contemporaries Colm Tóibín, John Banville and Sebastian Barry? …there is heart in these stories, and Conlon holds back so that it means something when she lets go. Each sentence advances the story and is a work of art’ Naoise Dolan, Irish Times

Listen to Evelyn reading her short story ‘Up at the Library’, for the St. Brigid’s Day celebration at the Princess Grace Irish Library website.

Evelyn Conlon receives the 2022 International Rubery Book Award