Long-listed for the 2009 Man Booker Prize. Finalist for the Kerry Irish Book Award.
For decades old Cartwright has been the office bully, a snoop and a henchman, so few at the paper mourn him when he is found rather messily dead. But to a burnt-out younger colleague, Owen Simmons, Cartwright bestows a back-handed legacy, forcing him to face up to the passion, heartbreak and regrets of his previous life as a foreign correspondent.
Not Untrue and Not Unkind is Owen’s story, a recollection of life and love amongst a transient group of friends and rivals reporting forgotten wars in Africa.
Praise for Not Untrue & Not Unkind
Guardian
‘A graceful writer … You can almost smell the sweated alcohol and overhear that mixture of cheerful camaraderie and late-night braggadocio from terrace bars in the cities of half-remembered conflicts’
New York Times
‘..with its intensely evocative language and atmosphere of looming
tragedy, “Not Untrue and Not Unkind” is a book that far transcends the usual
literary efforts of the former combat reporter’
Giles Foden, Irish Times
‘Passionate, colourful … Love story and tragedy, mystery and professional satire (à la Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop) all rolled into one’
Megan O’Grady, literary critic American Vogue
‘O’Loughlin …. writes fiction with a stoic lyricism’
The Times
‘Superb’
Sunday Business Post
‘Rings with a rare authenticity … The prose is muscular and delicate, the mark of a writer who knows his own strength and is sure of his aim. … One of the most powerful debut Irish novels of the last decade’
Sunday Tribune
‘This finely written book will make you doubt any foreign correspondent feature you ever read again’
Metro
‘Leaves a deep impression’
Joseph O’Neill, author of Netherland
‘A fine, darkly authoritative novel’
Anne Enright
‘The most exciting first novel I have read in many years’
Christopher Hope
‘A remarkable first novel: edgy, angry and utterly individual’
Tim Butcher, author of Blood River
‘A simply brilliant debut by an author of great poise and power’
Daily Mail
‘A page-turning novel … a gripping picture’
Full reviews:
Bigfoot and the Frogs of war
Duncan Campbell enjoys a worthy successor to The Quiet American
(The Guardian, Saturday 20 June 2009)
Into Africa: Memories of bloodshed and newsroom treachery haunt this novel
Reviewed by Joshua Hammer
(The New York Times, Sunday Book Review, Sunday 6 June 2010)
Faithfulness in a war zone
Reviewed by Giles Foden
(The Irish Times, Sunday 28 March 2009)
Not Untrue and Not Unkind Telegraph Review
Reviewed by Sameer Rahim
(The Telegraph, Tuesday 25 Aug 2009)
Books: Ten Summer Must-Reads
Reviewed by Megan O’Grady
(American Vogue, Monday 24 May 2010)
Powerful debut born out of African experience
Reviewed by Declan Burke
(The Sunday Business Post, Sunday 20 March 2009)
Not Untrue and Not Unkind Mail on Sunday Review
Reviewed by Clare Colvin
(Mail on Sunday, Friday 10 April 2009)
Not Untrue & Not Unkind FT review
Reviewed by Michael Holman
(The Financial Times, Tuesday April 14 2009)
Letter from Zaire
Reviewed by Padraig Kenny
(The Sunday Tribune, Tuesday 22 March 2009)
Working in the Dark
Reviewed by Carol Taaffe
(Dublin Review of Books, Sunday 07 June 2009)
Not Untrue & Not Unkind leaves an impression
Reviewed by Jonathan Eyers
(Metro, Tuesday 31 March 2009)