Michael Thomas’s acclaimed 2006 debut novel, Man Gone Down, brought major literary recognition, a €100,000 Dublin literary award and an academic promotion, but was followed by a 20-year gap before his next book. His new memoir, The Broken King, explains how mental illness, poverty, trauma and other pressures disrupted his life and writing, showing that professional success did not protect him from a severe breakdown.

Thomas says he was already in a year-long decline when acclaim arrived and felt unable to enjoy it; the prize mainly meant he could address debts after falling two months behind on his mortgage. The memoir recounts what he calls a “perfect storm” including parental abandonment, racism, alcoholism, sexual violence, self-sabotage and mental illness, while reviewers have praised its literary power and intimacy.