Puckoon

In the year 1924, the newly formed Boundary Commission embarks on the seemingly straightforward task of delineating the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. However, due to a calamitous cocktail of incompetence, negligence, and sheer bureaucratic perversity, the border is drawn directly through the unsuspecting Irish town of Puckoon. This ludicrous decision slices the community in two, severing houses from their outhouses, husbands from wives, pubs from their patrons, and even churches from their graveyards. Caught in the bewildering crossfire of this administrative absurdity is Dan Milligan, a hapless and perpetually bewildered protagonist. Subjected to endless taunts and manipulations by both the townsfolk and, most hilariously, the sadistic author himself, Dan is forced to navigate the nonsensical chaos, desperately trying to impose some semblance of order on a world turned utterly upside down. Milligan’s classic novel is a masterclass in slapstick and satiric genius, exploring the profound absurdity of human folly.