Quartier Perdu, Paperback

Sheltering from an air raid in an empty underground station, a young woman encounters a strangely out-of-place vessel passing along the platform...

A librarian cataloguing the manuscripts of a recently deceased horror writer notices one particular box, relating to his most mystical work, has disappeared...

A young academic takes up residency in the former home of an obscure Belgian poet in order to better understand the strange rumours surrounding his demise...

Sean O'Brien's stories are all lit with the unmistakable hue of the Victorian gothic: from the rantings of a deranged psychiatric patient, to the apparition of demons swarming into a remote, rural railway station; solemn oaths are broken and need atoning for; minor transgressions are met with outlandish curses. Often we join O'Brien's protagonists attempting to take time out from their troubles, but removing themselves from their normal lives only lets the supernatural in, and before they know it personal demons find very literal ones to conspire with.

Born in London, Sean O'Brien grew up in Hull and now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is a poet, critic, editor, translator, playwright, broadcaster and novelist. His poetry has won multiple awards, including the T S Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize (three times), and the E M Forster Award. His eighth poetry collection, The Beautiful Librarians, won the 2015 Roehampton Poetry Prize. His second novel, Once Again Assembled Here, was published in 2016, as was Hammersmith, a chapbook of poetry and photographs. 2018 sees the publication of his ninth collection of poetry, Europa, and his second collection of short stories from Comma Press, Quartier Perdu. O'Brien is Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.