Fun and Games

INSTANT TOP 10 IRISH BESTSELLER

SHORTLISTED FOR IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR

AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST

‘A triumph … the funniest novel I've read in years’ SALLY ROONEY

‘A brilliant and bittersweet ode to young love’ IRISH TIMES

'One of my favourite books of the year’ JULIA ARMFIELD

‘A funny and frank coming-of age-drama' OBSERVER

John Masterson has no idea what he wants.

It’s his last summer on the small island where he has grown up. He should be enjoying the weeks until his exam results come through, but instead he's desperately trying to keep his head down after his mother’s nude sext to another man was leaked to the whole island. He's doing his best to distract himself with his Gaelic football ambitions, going out with his mates and a blossoming, sort-of, romance with his slightly older co-worker Amber.

But soon John must face up to the choices before him: to stand out or fit in and whether to love and let himself be loved, despite, or perhaps because of, the flaws that make us all human.

A book of the year in Observer, Irish Times, iPaper, Vogue, Esquire and more

‘Welcome to the psyche of a teenage boy in all its humorous and hormonal glory’ TELEGRAPH

As evocative as it is funny. Think: the male version of Sally Rooney’ VOGUE

‘Gorgeous … a writer of immense talent’ MICHAEL MAGEE

‘I’m not sure I’ve read a funnier book, or one I’ve enjoyed more’ DAILY MAIL

‘Bighearted and boisterous, bursting with life’ COLIN WALSH, author of Kala

‘Funny and heartbreaking’ FERDIA LENNON, author of Glorious Exploits

‘A gifted writer’ ANNE GRIFFIN, author of The Island of Longing

John Patrick McHugh's 'Fun and Games' was an Irish top ten bestseller w/c 2025-04-28.

About the author

John Patrick McHugh is from Galway. His work has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Banshee, The Tangerine and Granta and been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. He is the author of the short story collection Pure Gold. Fun and Games is his debut novel.