'Writers who don’t obsessively polish their writing must be made to walk the plank.'

Rob Doyle's masterclass on prose style

Rob Doyle's third book, THRESHOLD, was published in 2020 by Bloomsbury, and was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. Doyle's debut novel, HERE ARE THE YOUNG MEN, was published in 2014 by Bloomsbury and the Lilliput Press. It was selected as one of Hot Press magazine’s ‘20 Greatest Irish Novels 1916-2016’, and has been made into a film starring Dean Charles Chapman and Anya Taylor Joy. THIS IS THE RITUAL, a collection of short stories, was published in 2016 to widespread acclaim. His AUTOBIBLIOGRAPHY was published to similar acclaim in 2021. He is the editor of the anthology THE OTHER IRISH TRADITION (Dalkey Archive Press), and IN THIS SKULL HOTEL WHERE I NEVER SLEEP (Broken Dimanche Press). He has written for the New York Times, TLS, Sunday Times, Dublin Review, Observer and many other publications, and throughout 2019 he wrote a weekly column on cult books for the Irish Times.

Last week we sent our readers the opening pages of Threshold, a novel we recommend to any…