{"product_id":"import-daddb76b-50d6-4e10-988b-8dfce7901456","title":"Black Bag: SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2026","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2026\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE 2026\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'The funniest and smartest novel I've read in a while' ZADIE SMITH\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003eBlack Bag\u003c\/i\u003e made me laugh aloud dozens and dozens of times . . . I loved its inventive originality and its ambition: it is very powerfully worth your time' KATHERINE RUNDELL\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'It is excellent, both funny and genuinely clever . . . go on, treat yourself' MARK HADDON\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Ya gotta read \u003ci\u003eBlack Bag\u003c\/i\u003e'\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eFERN BRADY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A campus novel for our end times . . . \u003ci\u003eBlack Bag\u003c\/i\u003e fizzes with wit and invention' \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A triumph of deadpan comedy . . . As surreal and ambitious as Tom McCarthy's \u003ci\u003eRemainder\u003c\/i\u003e, only written by someone with the comic instincts of \u003ci\u003ePeep Show\u003c\/i\u003e's Jesse Armstrong' \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Hilarious and poignant . . . Luke's prose ripples with unusual images and wry aphorisms. An ode to the importance of friendship, tenderness and love' \u003ci\u003eTLS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'With all the fuss about the manosphere, \u003ci\u003eBlack Bag \u003c\/i\u003ecomes as comic relief . . . profound as well as funny' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eStandard\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Had me laughing from page one' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Very, very funny' GQ\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Winningly wry, both vulnerable and dyspeptic'\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMail on Sunday\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a job working for Dr Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. How will Dr Blend's students react to someone zipped into on oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of autumn term lectures? The role, eagerly accepted, soon has unexpected consequences. A professor of post-humanism develops research questions of her own, in particular can you love someone secreted away inside a black bag? Meanwhile, the actor's childhood friend and flatmate forms a vision for monetising this new situation . . . \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA warped campus novel, an investigation into the crisis of masculinity and an off-kilter love story, \u003ci\u003eBlack Bag\u003c\/i\u003e is a firework of a novel: blazingly funny and profoundly humane.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A masterpiece from one of the best writers at work today . . . Wildly original and funny, yet always underpinned by depth of feeling, this is a novel like no other' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eJOE DUNTHORNE, author of\u003ci\u003e Submarine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'This brilliant novel made me laugh, think, worry about a man on a swan pedalo and almost shed a tear into the dark leather of my own consciousness' WILL ASHON, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Passengers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Absurdly good. \u003ci\u003ePeep Show\u003c\/i\u003e meets \u003ci\u003eFight Club\u003c\/i\u003e. The novel of male interiority we've all been waiting for' CLARE POLLARD, author of \u003ci\u003eDelphi\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHardback | 400 pages | Published March 2026\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GARDNERS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":66049182073100,"sku":"9781399826112","price":23.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0978\/3459\/8749\/files\/9781399826112.jpg?v=1793193229","url":"https:\/\/www.thebookmark.ie\/products\/import-daddb76b-50d6-4e10-988b-8dfce7901456","provider":"The Bookmark ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}