In Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know Colm Tóibín takes three of Ireland's greatest writers - Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce - and examines their earliest influences: their fathers.

With his inimitable wit and sensitivity, Tóibín introduces us to Wilde Senior, the philandering doctor whose libel case prefigured that of his son; the elder Yeats, an impoverished artist who never finished a painting; and to John Stanislaus Joyce, the hard-drinking, storytelling father of James, who couldn't feed his own family.

This is an illuminating study of how each of these men cast a long shadow not only over the lives of their famous sons, but over the works for which they are celebrated and cherished.

Reviews

''Astonishing to read. Tóibín has a hawk-like eye for literary subtleties, and a generosity towards his subjects that is warm'' Sunday Times

''Funny, exciting, illuminating, wonderful, so engaging. Tells us more than a little about our own selves along the way'' Irish Times

''There is something interesting and insightful on almost every page'' Observer

''Sparkling, subtle, witty and often deeply moving . . . A classic'' Fintan O'Toole, New Statesman

''Scintillating, imaginative, enlightening and powerfully moving throughout'' Roy Foster, Spectator