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Kieran Ginty pens down Limerick in his newest novel ‘The Finest’

Kieran Ginty launches his third book, ‘The Finest’. The story is based in the streets and alleys of Limerick in the 1980’s.

Kieran Ginty pens down Limerick in his newest novel ‘The Finest’

By ilovelimerick correspondent Simran Kapur

Author Kieran Ginty is back with his third novel, ‘The Finest’. The book set in the streets and alleys of Limerick is a gripping tale of one man’s journey from obscurity to infamy.


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Born and bred in Mayo, Mr. Ginty now works as a full-time public servant in Limerick. After two intriguing novels based in Mayo, Mr. Ginty decided to pen a story about his ‘adopted city’, Limerick.

Spanning from the 1980s right up to the present day, the streets and sounds of Limerick provide an ideal backdrop for this novel.

The tagline to the title reads: “Sometimes life just throws extraordinary challenges at ordinary people” and that is a key element of the story.

The story revolves around Gav Jones, a youthful newcomer to the city. To the readers, he appears as an ordinary bloke with an ordinary life, but one event spins his life out of control.  His reaction to this event and how he deals with the consequences has implications not only for him – but for Limerick. 

Loss and luck all combine to determine Gav’s fate thus making the story relatable and gripping at the same time.

The readers will re-visit places like The Parkway Night Club, Tropics and Kranks Korner which come back to life through the narrative. Even present locations such as The Milk Market and The People’s Park feature in the story.

Asked if the story is based on his own life experiences Mr. Ginty said: “Much of my experience has been channeled into the story. Thankfully so far I have managed to avoid the type of situation Gav got himself into!  I’ve known people who thrived in Limerick and I know people that weren’t able for it – and the story gives an insight to both.”

A part of the book’s profit will go to Breast Mid West and Limerick Youth Service for their endless support for those suffering from breast cancer and for the youth of the city, respectively.

It took Mr. Ginty exactly six months to finish writing the book.

Kieran Ginty

Mr Ginty with his two daughters.

“When writing it, my daughters Leah (10) and Eva (7) used to ask me what the book was called – as they wanted to tell their school friends and teachers.  I hadn’t settled on a title, so my response was “I’m not telling you”.  So they used to sneak up behind me when I was typing to try and find out, but I was ready for them and showed them on the screen that the title in bold font was ‘I’m Not Telling You’. Both of them were slightly annoyed with me last month when they saw the first copy – as they had to inform their teachers that it was actually ‘The Finest’, Mr. Ginty added.

When asked why he chose the title to be ‘The Finest’ Mr. Ginty said: “I was tempted to include ‘Limerick’ in the title but my first two books – based in my native Co. Mayo – featured place names so I wanted to try something different. When I unveiled the book on social media I said ‘Despite the title, this is not an autobiography!’ Limerick humour has permeated me at last!

The book priced at €15 is now available at your nearest bookstore.

For more information on Limerick go here

For more stories on books based in Limerick go here

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.