Prophet Song
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023
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4.1 • 94 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
* THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER *
'A CRUCIAL BOOK FOR OUR CURRENT TIMES... BRILLIANTLY HAUNTING.' OBSERVER
The explosive literary sensation: a mother faces a terrible choice as Ireland slides into totalitarianism
On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.
Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and when her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling.
How far will she go to save her family? And what – or who – is she willing to leave behind?
Exhilarating, terrifying and propulsive, Prophet Song is a work of breathtaking originality, offering a devastating vision of a country at war and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.
'A compassionate, propulsive and timely novel that forces the reader to imagine — what if this was me?' FT
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An Irish family is shattered by the rise of a radical right-wing party in this slow-burning dystopian novel from Lynch (Grace). In the near future, Ireland is governed by the National Alliance Party, an eerily totalitarian mutation of nationalist politics dating back to the Troubles. Their leaders employ a militant secret police force, which rounds up trade unionist Larry Stack after he participates in a protest march. Larry's four children assume he's been killed along with others "disappeared" by the NAP, but his wife, Eilish, is in denial and refuses to consider leaving for somewhere safer. Lynch renders Eilish's inner world with relentless blocks of page-long paragraphs, unbroken even during conversations with her father, Simon, who, in his dementia, often blurs past and present (he describes NAP "thugs" as "trouble," suggesting they are reminiscent of IRA soldiers). Some of this might be lost on readers unfamiliar with the history. Still, the momentum of the prose lends an air of portentousness to the narrative until Eilish's denial finally crumbles as she claims the body of one of her sons, who has been tortured to death, from a military hospital. Readers well-versed in the context will find Lynch's vision painfully plausible.
Customer Reviews
Terrifying account of a world at war.
This is a thriller of a different kind. It explores the terror of being an innocent person leading a normal life when all about them is falling apart.
Unlike Orwells 1984, everyday life, nature and activities continue for the majority of the novel. This deepens the sense of underlying doom and despair.
The latter stages of the novel includes some of the best writing showcasing the terror of what is taking place.
Shortlisted for the Booker prize, this would be a worthy winner due to the writing and the messages that sadly relate to the atrocities that are occurring in the world at present. A novel that will be remembered.
Prophet Song
Beautiful | harrowing | unique | relevant. I am different for the reading. This stays with you.
Disappointing - missed opportunity
Story line provided a great opportunity to explore concepts of totalitarian type governments and war but in a western country rather than say a Syrian or Afghanistan setting. The same day to day activities were repeated throughout most of the book. I would have liked to have explored more about the relationships with the father and his worsening memory issues and the impacts on younger family members. I did not think the absence of paragraphs and dialogue cues added to the story. It’s an okay book but in comparison the first part of Beekeeper of Aleppo is better in my honest opinion.