The Faloorie Man, by Eugene McEldowney (New Island, £6.99)

We all know growing up in 1950s Ireland was hard. Here Eugene McEldowney paints a balanced, captivating portrait of 1950s Catholic Belfast, seen through the eyes of Marty McBride, a young boy grappling with the problems of sex, religion and poverty in a divided society, who is devastated to discover he is adopted. The simple, well-told story departs from formula when McBride, as a young journalist, eventually locates his mother in the US, and begins a moving and surprisingly realistic relationship.