Joseph O’Connor’s THE THRILL OF IT ALL is published in paperback on 2 July by Vintage, with a vibrant new look for the cover.

THE THRILL OF IT ALL narrates the exciting yet heartbreaking life-cycle of a band, The Ships, from a first friendship between two students at Luton College in the early 1980s, to their rise on the global stage and beyond. The tale of four people trapped in the dysfunctional family of a band by the whirlpool of their addiction to music.

The novel was shortlisted for Eason Novel of the Year in the Irish Book Awards, and was nominated for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize. It was also a Radio 4 ‘Book at Bedtime’ staring Philip Glenister.

Joe’s novels have won many prizes including the American Library Association Award, the Irish Poet Award for Fiction, and the Prix Millepages. In 2012 Joe won the Irish PEN Award for outstanding achievement in literature.

THE THRILL OF IT ALL has been published in Holland by Ambo Anthos and Germany by Fischer, with rights also sold in France, Italy and Czech Republic.

Praise for THE THRILL OF IT ALL:

‘Paragraph after paragraph of brilliance.’ – Guardian

‘What makes this novel such a compulsive read is its extraordinary emotional intensity... an incredibly moving piece of work.' - Irish Sunday Independent

‘O'Connor brilliantly evokes the 1980s...and superbly evokes the struggles of a naive and yet determined band to survive on the road… Don't just buy the book: petition the publishers to release the soundtrack.' – Mail On Sunday Five Star Review