Told in chronological order, spanning the years 2016 to 2020, We Used to Dance Here is a portrait of both Dublin and Dubliners in flux. Together, these stories explore life on the margins, toxic masculinity and frustrated ambitions.
There are dog tracks, bars and pubs, half-finished estates. In ‘Tourists’ we meet Conor who has fallen in love with Shannon who is studying at Trinity. She is busy avoiding the news from back home in the US and trusts in books instead; in ‘Off Your Chest’ a young man moves anonymously through the city as he listens obsessively to a talk radio host; in ‘Forge Worlds’ we encounter Oran and Ger, ten years between them, who work as joiners.
Together, the stories show a darker, edgier side to Dublin and they do so in brilliant, crackling prose.
