Set in 2013, Close To Home focuses on Sean, living in Belfast and struggling to find work in a recession. When he loses control at a house party and assaults a stranger, he’s charged with 200 hours of community service and a hefty fine. This is Sean’s cue to try and find himself again, rekindling relationships with people he hasn’t seen since school, and learning who his real friends and family are.

The English literature degree under Sean’s belt proves of little use as he navigates the employment market without a euro to his name, and with many people still haunted by the Troubles, his older brother Anthony battling a drinking problem and his mother struggling to get by, there is a constant sense of dread within the family. When he’s kicked out of his flat and has to move back in with his mother, it’s the last place he wants to be as a 22-year-old who wants to move as far away from Belfast as he can.

To this end, Sean rebuilds his relationship with Anthony, which – coupled with a job and a place to live away from under the family roof – brings a sense of peace and the feeling the protagonist can begin to move on with his life. All of this adds up to a novel, Michael Magee’s debut, which explores modern masculinity compellingly, and details the struggles of living in post-recession Northern Ireland amidst working-class communities. Certainly worth reading.