The House That Jack Built

When life gives you a second chance…?

At sixteen years old, Jack Joyce loses her virginity to her brother’s charming and charismatic friend, Matt.

She finds the experience an unexpected disappointment and whilst her friends spend their twenties settling in to their careers, Jack spends it partying, desperately trying to recreate the youth she felt she should have had.

More than a decade on — living in a tiny flat in Dublin, as a single mother and in a dead-end job — she still dreams of Matt, Thin Lizzy and those days of old.

So bumping into her first love at the point when her future seems its bleakest feels like destiny.

Is this Jack’s second chance?

Matt may be married, and have kids, but surely divine intervention must count for something?

If only Jack can shift some weight and stop drinking, who knows what might happen?

When Matt invites her to join an evening class he's teaching, Jack’s fantasies soar to new heights.

She soon finds that he has set her on the first step of a journey that will change her life forever.

Only it isn’t quite the journey she had in mind…

Praise for Catherine Barry

“Vivid, honest and brave” – Deirdre Purcell

‘Rich with Irish humour and universal truths, Skin Deep cuts through the world’s outer shell to reveal real, flawed people you care about’ —Cathy Kelly

Catherine Barry was born in 1963 and grew up in a home in which the love of books was encouraged. She began keeping a diary when she was six. Her first novel, The House That Jack Built, was published in 2001, followed by Null & Void in 2002, with her first nonfiction title, Charlie & Me, published in 2011. She lives in Dublin.