James McManus’ The Education of a Poker Player was selected as one of four "Best Fiction Picks from 2015" by Lauren Daley of South Coast Today, alongside such authors as Margaret Atwood, Lucia Berlin, and Paula Hawkins. According to Daley, "I’m not sure about the wine, but 2015 was a great year for books."

McManus’ newest book delves into the world of an Irish-Catholic altar boy, Vincent Killeen, in the 1950s and '60s. Daley says, “If you were a middle-class Irish-Catholic altar boy in the 1950s and '60s, you will laugh reading this. Because I was not an Irish-Catholic altar boy in the 1950s and '60s, and I laughed out loud.”

She continues: "Similar subject matter aside, the framework here also reminded me James Joyce’s 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,' as it follows one boy, Vincent Killeen, from ages 9 to 17 growing up in the Catholic Church. Like 'Artist,' you get the sense Vincent is McManus’s alter ego—'altar' ego?—and, like 'Artist,' the voice matures as the narrator ages.

Click here to see the complete list of "Best Fiction Picks from 2015."

The Education of a Poker Player is available now at the BOA Bookstore.