Petrol

Evans Martina

"Imelda thinks she's killed her mother by wishing she was dead. Haunted, she doesn't want to wish the same fate on Justin, her mercurial and controlling twice-widowed father, owner of McConnell's bar and shop. When Imelda's two older sisters, Bertha and Agnes disapprove of Justin's young fiance, Clodagh, Justin butters up naive Imelda and elevates her to the position of temporary favourite. Nobody including Imelda herself can believe her luck will last when it is clear that Agnes is his true favourite. Besides, Justin can't stand Imelda's admirer, Danny Boy, her sisters are jealous and Neily Sheehan, the owner of the rival John Fitzgerald Kennedy Bar, is only waiting for his chance to bring Justin down". "Petrol" is a prose poem disguised as a novella of adolescence in Co. Cork, Ireland. With its dizzy pace and perfect narrative timing it is a unique work and a remarkable departure for a writer whose poetry is widely appreciated for its humour and uncompromising depiction of rural Ireland.

About the Author

Martina Evans was born in 1961, the youngest of ten children, and grew up in County Cork. After training as a radiographer in Dublin she moved to London in 1988. Her first collection of poems, "The Inniscarra Bar and Cycle Rest", appeared in 1995 and was followed by three further collections, "All Alcoholics are Charmers" (1998), "Can Dentists Be Trusted?" (2004) and "Facing the Public" (2009). She teaches Creative Writing at the City Literary Institute and Birkbeck College. She is also the author of three novels: "Midnight Feast" (1996), "The Glass Mountain" (1997), "No Drinking No Dancing No Doctors" (2000) and the prose-poem/novella "Petrol" (2012). She lives in London with her daughter.

Reviews

Awards won by Martina Evans
Winner, 2011 Premio Ciampi Internazionale di Poesia (Ciampi International Poetry Prize) (Facing the Public)

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