The first collection from Irish writer Liam Ó Murchú, Black Cat's Tales gathers stories centred on childhood, family and the working-class life of ordinary people. 

While rooted in contemporary Ireland, these stories avoid broad social realism in favour of intimate moments where memory, superstition, religion and violence quietly bleed into everyday experience. Ó Murchú has a strong ear for spoken language, allowing character and place to emerge through dialogue rather than exposition.

Across the collection runs a fascination with the moment innocence gives way to experience: boys learning the rules of masculinity, families negotiating grief and obligation, and communities held together as much by silence as affection. The prose is economical without feeling sparse, making this a rewarding collection for readers of modern Irish fiction in the tradition of Claire Keegan, Kevin Barry and Colin Barrett, albeit with its own distinctly understated voice.

First paperback edition published by The Collins Press, 2000. Light shelf wear to wraps with a clean, unmarked interior.