McCabe's 2001 novel "Emerald Germs of Ireland" is a black comedy featuring matricide. "Winterwood", was published in 2006, and went on to become the 2007 Hughes & Hughes/"Irish Independent" Irish Novel of the Year. 2009 saw the publication of "The Holy City". "The Stray Sod Country"—his most recent novel— was described as "Strangely elegiac, gloriously operatic and driven by Patrick McCabe's wild and savage imagination, the 'Stray Sod Country' is an eerie folk tale that chronicles the passing of a generation."