Kingdom of Scars: A Novel

“Eoin Macken’s writing bristles and prickles with authentic purpose. Kingdom of Stars feels both epic and intimate simultaneously.”
Eoghan McDermott, 2FM

“I don’t know if I like Eoin Macken. His fabulous face. His Calvin Klein male model contracts. His shimmering six pack. His aquiline jawline. His superb cinematography. His all embracing bravery. His staggeringly successful film and television career. The only respite for the rest of us mere mortals was that at least he couldn’t write novels. Turns out he can. Turns out his punch-drunk love-prose will knock you on your ass. Turns out I hate him.”
Terry McMahon, Writer/Director

“A wonderful first novel from a new talent: rich, absorbing and gritty. One to watch for the future.”
Jim Fitzpatrick, Artist

“Raw and honest, a compelling account of growing up as a teenager – an eloquent and descriptive depiction of a young man reflecting on his experiences as he tumbles through his teenage years. Genuinely written from the heart.”
Jack Reynor, Actor

“Gripping, sensitive and utterly captivating, Kingdom of Scars is a work of deep insight. A riveting read.”
Caroline Grace-Cassidy, Writer

“Author Eoin Macken perfectly captures the voice – both inner and outer – of a certain generation of Irish youth with his debut novel Kingdom of Scars. Anyone who has ever had a best friend, a first crush, a moment of awareness that they may never fully understand the world they’re a part of – which should be just about everybody – will be able to find themselves in this book.”
Rory Cashin, Film Critic

About the Book:
Sam is a shy, 15-year-old boy navigating two social worlds: the uptight bullies at his all-boys private school and the small uncouth gang in his neighborhood. This gang of five follows the typical teenage-boy pattern; they drink, smoke, cause fights and vandalize property. Sam desperately wants to be accepted, but he soon finds that the only way to gain respect amongst the crew is to fight violence with violence. And it hurts.
At school, Sam keeps to his own dream world when he’s not consorting with his best (and only) friend Daniel or getting sent out of class for talking back to his teachers. His stubborn behavior often lands him in meetings with his guidance counselor, the sage Jesuit Don, whose measured wisdom is transmitted to Sam through a haze of constant cigar smoke. When it comes to girls, Sam is lost without Daniel. After hesitantly agreeing to be Daniel’s wingman on a blind date, Sam inadvertently meets the girl of his dreams. Antoinette is perfect: blonde, slender and sexy, and Sam is enamored. On Daniel’s advice, Sam decides to throw a small house party with the intention of losing his virginity to the ‘most beautiful girl in the world’, but Daniel has his own agenda with Antoinette’s best friend and Sam is meanwhile overtaken by fear, anxiety and his first experience with weed. After an awkward attempt to get Antoinette into his parents’ bed, it seems Sam may have ruined his chances. But when he later discovers that Daniel has secretly been dating Antoinette behind his back, Sam learns the real cost and shame of falling in love at the price of friendship.
This blow is followed quickly by another — just when Sam feels he’s finally become regarded as part of the neighborhood gang, the boys find a dead body hanging from a tree at their favorite hangout spot. Sam’s absence from this discovery further reinforces his distance from the other boys, and he finds himself once again on the edges, unable to identify with their new found pain and further than ever from being accepted.
But being a teenager is all about redemption and recrimination, small events becoming catastrophic, and seemingly huge moments eventually meaning nothing. Through these events that shape a teen, Sam discovers the boundaries of sexuality, friendship, authority, and the possibility of death.