Andrew Meehan has written a deeply moving novel that navigates friendship, grief, love, and more. Ahead of its release we asked Andrew Meehan about his favourite books.

Hey Man
By Andrew Meehan
Published by Muswell Press

The book as . . . memory. What is your first memory of books and reading?  

I’m going to pretend I can’t remember my childhood but I do remember the first time I read the stories of Lorrie Moore (I was quite young) and thinking: this changes everything. 

The book as . . . your work. Tell us about your latest novel Hey Man. What did you want to explore in writing it? 

Hey Man is the story of an unlikely friendship between Tommy, an actor, and Ian, a Benedictine monk. Even though the pendulum of friendship swings in unpredictable ways, I’d like to think their bond is as strong as any love affair. It’s a weepie. So says the person that wrote it, anyway. 

The book as . . . inspiration. What is your favourite book that has informed how you see yourself? 

Since we’re on the subject of weepies, I keep on returning to Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence; a sad wee dream of a book. The ending, of course, is a solemn warning to us all—don’t let love pass you by. Then again, what’s in your heart can be much more real than anything in front of you. 

The book as . . . an object. What is your favourite beautiful book? 

The Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers is expressed so clearly and with such proper cook’s wisdom and is such a handsome big thing that I can seldom resist pulling it off the shelf to see what recipes I can cook from it. 

The book as . . . a relationship. What is your favourite book that bonded you to someone else? 

Lovely question. Whenever I look at William Trevor’s The Ballroom of Romance, which I love, I think of my mother. It’s very much a story from another time and, since I still have her old edition of it, my copy of the book is, too. 

The book as . . . rebellion. What is your favourite book that felt like it revealed a secret truth to you? 

An Irish philosopher called John Moriarty wrote so temptingly about turning your back on the world. Turning instead towards your own soul. Try A Hut At The End Of The Village. To call it barmy and brilliant is to do it a real disservice. 

The book as . . . a destination. What is your favourite book set in a place unknown to you?  

I’m haunted by Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road To The Far Deep North. The whole thing hits you with such a wallop but I can’t shake the scenes set in and around the building of the Burma Death Railway. Hell on earth. Hell of man’s making. Was I supposed to choose somewhere nice? Sorry. 

The book as . . . the future. What are you looking forward to reading next?   

Why not stick with Richard Flanagan? I’ve heard such good things about his book Question 7, which appears to be about many things; Flanagan’s father, the atomic bomb, war and love and selfhood. People are asking if it is fiction or nonfiction. If it’s as good as everything else written by him, I don’t mind what it is. 

Hey Man by Andrew Meehan is published by Muswell Press, priced £12.99.