The Barracks. London: Faber, 1963. First Edition. Red cloth boards with gilt title to spine, in publisher’s first issue dust jacket. A near fine copy.

First published in 1963 – and banned from McGahern’s local library – The Barracks won the AE Memorial Award and is a remarkably confident first novel by a man who went on to become a giant of modern Irish literature. 

The story follows Elizabeth Regan, a former nurse who returns from London to marry a widowed police sergeant and care for his three children in a remote barracks. As she grapples with a terminal illness, she reflects on her past, her stifling marriage, and the quiet tragedies of daily life.

 The first edition, published by Faber & Faber, is highly collectible.