Books

Quinn: Insightful narrative on the rise and downfall of Seán Quinn makes for a compelling read

Journalist Trevor Birney has a novelist’s eye for details as he traces the businessman’s journey from riches to bankruptcy in this authoritative biography

Seán Quinn: the story of how Ireland’s richest man ended up bankrupt, briefly imprisoned and stuck in a legal quagmire is well known and Trevor Birney’s biography recounts it with great authority and insight

Seán Quinn apparently regrets taking part in Trevor Birney’s three-part RTÉ One documentary about his spectacular rise and fall. “I’m not going to fall out with anyone over it,” he declared after the programme was broadcast last month. “But it’s not what I signed up to.”

Here’s some small comfort for Quinn: he might like Birney’s accompanying biography a little better. If nothing else, it shows the advantage of print over screen, with 305 impressively ...