From the award-winning author of The  Butcher Boy comes a new novel of  extraordinary power that, according to the San Francisco  Chronicle, "confirm[s] McCabe's standing as one  of the most brilliant writers to ever come out of  Ireland."In The  Dead School, Patrick McCabe returns to the  emotionally dense landscape of small-town Ireland  to explore the inner lives of two men: a  headmaster and a schoolteacher, each man the product of a  soul-stifling culture, each battling his own demons  of loss and betrayal. Tension coils--until tragedy  strikes a young student in their charge, and the  latent despair and rage that has festered in their  hearts explodes onto the page. As in The  Butcher Boy, McCabe demonstrates his  remarkable command of the vernacular and an uncanny  ability to pinpoint the exact moment when ordinary  minds take flight into madness. Equally  compelling, equally heartbreaking in its impact,   The Dead School has established McCabe  as one of the most celebrated writers of literary  fiction today.From the Trade Paperback edition.