We are delighted to welcome acclaimed debut novelist John Patrick McHugh to Deansgate, celebrating the paperback release of the brilliant and evocative Fun and Games.

A darkly comic coming-of-age set on the west coast of Ireland, Fun and Games follows seventeen-year-old John Masterson’s journey into adulthood, mining questions of class, love and manhood with both raw honesty and tenderness.

McHugh joins us to discuss his fantastic first novel and answer audience questions, followed by a signing.

About Fun and Games

Seventeen-year-old John Masterson has no idea what he wants. It’s his last summer on the small island where he has grown up. But instead of enjoying himself until his exam results come through, he’s working shifts at the local hotel and keeping his head down after his mother’s nude sext was leaked to the whole island.

As John joins the local senior football team and embarks on a tentative relationship with his slightly older co-worker Amber, he can almost pretend that this summer will last forever. But soon John must face up to the choices before him: to stay or leave, to stand out or fit in, and whether to love and let himself be loved, despite or perhaps because of, the flaws that make us all human.

Fun and Games is a darkly comic debut novel, full of feeling both harsh and tender. It takes in social class and its firm borders, manhood and its frailties, family and, of course, love.

About the Author

John Patrick McHugh is from Galway. His work has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Banshee, The Tangerine and Granta, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. He is the author of the short story collection Pure Gold. Fun and Games is his debut novel, and was an instant top 10 Irish bestseller as well as being shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards 2025. McHugh was named one of the 10 Best Debut Novelists of 2025 by the Observer.