Nights Beneath The Nation, by Denis Kehoe, Serpent’s Tail; £7.99

DENIS KEHOE’S debut novel is a first-person narrative of a disaffected immigrant returned to his native Ireland.

Forced to leave for New York following the tragic end to his heady dreams of love and romance as a young gay man in 1950s Dublin, Daniel Ryan is back in a city he barely recognises.

In parallel chapters, he recounts his provincial upbringing and escape to the big city. Life as a lowly clerk is stirred up for Daniel by a chance encounter with the elegant bohemian, Maeve. “You are one of us,” she tells him. He is introduced to the theatrical world and its coterminous, subterranean gay scene. Daniel begrudgingly accepts his homosexuality and embarks on an exciting adventure among “this secret sect I had stumbled upon.”