‘Tis a truth universally acknowledged that behind every great man, there has to be a greater Irish woman. And, indeed, ’tis a little known fact that Friedrich Engels’ better half was a Lizzie Burns of the Emerald Isle. A working class immigrant to Britain, she had first hand experience of the hardships of the proletariat and was to play a key part in the formation of British socialism.

Taking this fact and applying his not insignificant talent and imagination to create a gripping historical novel, is Gavin McCrea, a writer and debut novelist from Dublin. I have to declare an interest here, not only is Gavin Irish, we also took our MA in Creative Writing at UEA, the same year (2009). However, this merely means that I’m familiar with his talent and his potential, and I would highly recommend you make ‘Mrs Engels’ your next book purchase.

‘Mrs Engels’ by Gavin McCrea will be launched on April 30th, and is published by Scribe, London. The novel will be published in the U.S. in October.

Remember you heard it here first.

Gavin McCrea, author