With the 2016 shortlist now out, we caught up with brilliant author Lisa McInerney to discuss the inspiration behind her riotous shortlisted novel The Glorious Heresies.

Cork City, specifically its rhythms, its ups and its downs – both in terms of hills and accents. I wrote most of Heresies 100 miles away, but dipped back in every so often. I get quite down if I’m away from Cork too long

An actual Holy Stone. We were given this years ago and one day I picked it up and felt its weight and darkly thought, You could kill someone with this yoke.

Run-down houses, especially those that are clearly still inhabited, make me wonder about what goes on behind the closed doors of places no one loves enough to call home.

An actual Holy Stone. We were given this years ago and one day I picked it up and felt its weight and darkly thought, You could kill someone with this yoke.

Run-down houses, especially those that are clearly still inhabited, make me wonder about what goes on behind the closed doors of places no one loves enough to call home.

To find out more about The Glorious Heresies and see the 2016 shortlist in full click here. Don’t forget to tell us what you think of the books on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.