The Dark <b>With a new foreword by Colin Walsh, this is 'one of the most volatile, vital and unsafe novels in Irish literature', banned by the censor for obscenity in 1965 - and just as explosive today. </b> <br><br> He was coming and there was nothing to do but wait and grow hard as stone and lie. Mahoney grows up in fear of his father: of his beatings with the heavy leather strap; of the nights he wants love. <br><br> Seeking to escape the claustrophobic family farm, he contemplates a future in the priesthood, but battles with his tortured conscience amidst adolescent lusts. After winning a scholarship, he takes a stand against the household's toxic violence - and begins a journey towards an understanding that may mean peace.