Colin Morgan grew up in Northern Ireland, a boy with an instinctive love for stories: hearing them, telling them, writing them, performing them. As an adult he counts himself very lucky that not much has changed, finding himself on stage, in front of a camera, before a microphone or with pen in hand, storytelling. The Ballad Of Ronan McCoy is his debut novel.

‘Written with exquisite tenderness, wisdom and heart, this is a truly impressive debut. A rhapsody and requiem for adolescent innocence, told with sharp intelligence and a compassionate Irish wit. The steel-hooped bonds of youthful friendship, and adolescent love are indelible in vivid characters that ache with human-ness. This is a painfully optimistic book that does the favour of making you laugh as it breaks your heart’ Kenneth Branagh

Colin Morgan grew up in Northern Ireland, a boy with an instinctive love for stories: hearing them, telling them, writing them, performing them. As an adult he counts himself very lucky that not much has changed, finding himself on stage, in front of a camera, before a microphone or with pen in hand, storytelling. The Ballad Of Ronan McCoy is his debut novel.

‘Written with exquisite tenderness, wisdom and heart, this is a truly impressive debut. A rhapsody and requiem for adolescent innocence, told with sharp intelligence and a compassionate Irish wit. The steel-hooped bonds of youthful friendship, and adolescent love are indelible in vivid characters that ache with human-ness. This is a painfully optimistic book that does the favour of making you laugh as it breaks your heart’ Kenneth Branagh

Colin Morgan grew up in Northern Ireland, a boy with an instinctive love for stories: hearing them, telling them, writing them, performing them. As an adult he counts himself very lucky that not much has changed, finding himself on stage, in front of a camera, before a microphone or with pen in hand, storytelling. The Ballad Of Ronan McCoy is his debut novel.

‘Written with exquisite tenderness, wisdom and heart, this is a truly impressive debut. A rhapsody and requiem for adolescent innocence, told with sharp intelligence and a compassionate Irish wit. The steel-hooped bonds of youthful friendship, and adolescent love are indelible in vivid characters that ache with human-ness. This is a painfully optimistic book that does the favour of making you laugh as it breaks your heart’ Kenneth Branagh