Belfast Book Fesival 2017 Belfast Book Festival 2017 | Page 40

THE WEIGHT OF HIM
ETHEL ROHAN
WITH PAUL MCVEIGH
The Weight of Him tells the story of Billy. At 400 pounds, Billy can always
count on food. Food has always made everything better, until the day
Billy’s beloved son Michael takes his own life.
Determined to make a difference in Michael’s memory, Billy undertakes
a public weight-loss campaign, to raise money for suicide prevention.
However, Billy’s dramatic crusade appalls his family, who want to simply
try to go on.
This is Rohan’s first novel and it won the inaugural Plumeri Fellowship
and was named an Amazon Best Book.
12.45PM // £7 INC. LUNCH | £5 EVENT ONLY // CRESCENT ARTS
CONNECTED
PAULA MCGRATH AND SOPHIA HILLAN
Join us for an evening of fiction and friction as Paula McGrath and
Sophia Hillan present their latest works.
Sophia Hillan’s How We Danced explores the gap between memory
and desire, reality and illusion, in the search for those things that cannot,
in the end, be taken away.
In Paula McGrath’s A History of Running Away it’s the 1980’s
and Jasmine wants to box but it’s illegal for girls in Ireland. In 2012, a
gynaecologist agonises about a job offer which would mean
escapism from her Dublin hospital. In Maryland, Ali’s mother has died
so she hooks up with a biker gang to escape the grandparents she
didn’t know existed.
5PM // £6 | £4 // CRESCENT ARTS
Wed 14 Jun