With a new foreword by Colin Walsh, this is ''one of the most volatile, vital and unsafe novels in Irish literature'', banned by the censor for obscenity in 1965 - and just as explosive today.

He was coming and there was nothing to do but wait and grow hard as stone and lie.

Mahoney grows up in fear of his father: of his beatings with the heavy leather strap; of the nights he wants love. Seeking to escape the claustrophobic family farm, he contemplates a future in the priesthood, but battles with his tortured conscience amidst adolescent lusts. After winning a scholarship, he takes a stand against the household''s toxic violence - and begins a journey towards an understanding that may mean peace.

''A master.'' Kevin Barry
''Timeless.'' Sinéad Gleeson
''Extraordinary.'' Colin Walsh
'Blew me away.' Colin Barrett
''A great writer.'' Sebastian Barry
''Exquisite.'' Andrew Michael Hurley
''Elegiac and graceful.'' David Mitchell
''One of the greatest writers of our era.'' Hilary Mantel
''The Irish novelist everyone should read.'' Colm Tóibín
'The preeminent Irish writer of his generation.' Anne Enright
''I'm grateful for every sentence he left in this world.'' Donal Ryan
''One reads McGahern for the textures of time and space, through which each of us travels, often alone.'' Yiyun Li