> Skip to content
Play sample
  • Published: 1 September 2010
  • ISBN: 9781409046578
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304

The Van




'A hilarious and hugely affectionate novel' Independent on Sunday

By the bestselling author of The Commitments, now a long-running West End stage show.

'The musical we've been waiting for... So good I almost wept' Sunday Times

Jimmy Rabbitte is unemployed and rapidly running out of money. His best friend Bimbo has been made redundant at the company where he has worked for many years. The two old friends are out of luck and out of options. That is, until Bimbo finds a dilapidated 'chipper van' and the pair decide to go into business...

By the bestselling author of The Commitments and The Snapper, The Van is a tender tale of male friendship, swimming in grease and stained with ketchup.

  • Published: 1 September 2010
  • ISBN: 9781409046578
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304

About the author

Roddy Doyle

Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of eleven acclaimed novels including The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van and Smile, two collections of short stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

Also by Roddy Doyle

See all

Praise for The Van

Roddy Doyle is a phenomenon... The Van is not just a very funny book, it is also faultless comic writing

New Statesman

There have been no novels published this year which are as funny, as understanding about the triumphs and indignities of family life, or as brave in touching upon the raw nerves of the male psyche

Guardian

A wonderfully funny book, that crackles and spits like fat in the fryer. It is also very touching...fine entertainment

Daily Telegraph

The last novel of his superb trilogy about the Rabbitte family of North Dublin...often hilarious, always enthralling and - this really is the case - unputdownable

Sunday Times