Dundalk referred to as a ‘fictional Irish town’ by Goodreads reviewer

The people of Dundalk are being gaslight.

A recent novel set in the ‘fictional Irish town of Dundalk’ has not scored highly with one reviewer.

Iron Annie, the debut novel by Irish author Luke Cassidy follows protagonist Aoife, a bisexual woman who becomes obsessed with the mysterious, magnetic Annie, and an ill-fated love affair ensues.

The book is set in the very real town of Dundalk, against the backdrop of its criminal underworld. However, something about the world painted wasn’t quite convincing enough for reader “Mike”, who took to Goodreads to air his grievances.

In a review on the American cataloging site, Mike wrote:

Reading a first-time author is always gratifying, particularly an Irish one. Iron Annie by Luke Cassidy is a crime story set in Dundalk, a fictional Irish town.

Via goodreads. 

He added that the book was written in “Irish-speak or vernacular”, which he felt was  “off putting and only seems to lessen the narrative”.

After getting their hands on the review, Irish Twitter is, as you’d imagine, revelling in the error.

User @scorpiophobic was the first to share the review, adding “obsessed with people thinking Dundalk isn’t real”.

obsessed with people thinking dundalk isn’t real pic.twitter.com/6m50FUz9LA

— caoimhe (@scorpiophobic) January 13, 2023

The tweet has amassed over 200,000 views, with the quips coming in hard and fast in the comments.

One person wrote: “Dundalk is real but Fermanagh, that’s just made up to frighten children”.

Another joked “Well, it may be real, but thanks to that by-pass they built in 2005, nobody actually needs to ever go there”.

Wait til Mike hears about Drogheda.

Header image via Shutterstock 

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