Amongst Women
'One of the greatest writers of our era' (Hilary Mantel)
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- €9.99
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- €9.99
Publisher Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME
McGahern's 'masterpiece: the sort of book which you can give anyone of any age and know that they will be changed by it' (Colm Tóibín) by 'one of the greatest writers of our era' (Hilary Mantel).
'A book that can be read in two hours, but will linger in the mind for decades.' Sunday Telegraph
Once an officer in the Irish War for Independence, Moran is now a widower, eking out a living on a small farm where he raises his two sons and three daughters. Adrift from the structure and security of the military, he keeps control by binding his family close to him. But as his children grow older and seek independence, and as the passing years bring with them bewildering change, Moran struggles to find a balance between love and tyranny.
'McGahern brings us that tonic gift of the best fiction, the sense of truth - the sense of transparency that permits us to see imaginary lives more clearly than we see our own.' John Updike
'An overwhelming experience.' The Times
'It is compact but not dense, spare yet rich, and brimming with tension.' Observer
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A lyric lament for Ireland, McGahern's lovingly observed family drama is dominated by an almost pathetic paterfamilias. Gruff, blustering Michael Moran, former guerrilla hero in the Irish War of Independence, is a man ``in permanent opposition.'' Now a farmer, he vents his compulsion to dominate, his cold fury and sense of betrayal on his three teenage daughters. Yearning for approval but fearing his flare-ups, they periodically beat a path back to the farmhouse from London and Dublin, then take flight again, both proud and dependent. Moran's second wife, Rose, much younger than he, displays saintly patience in her attempts to heal this splintering family. Moran also claims a renegade son in London who is ``turning himself into a sort of Englishman,'' and another son driven away by Moran's threats of beatings. McGahern ( The Dark ; The Pornographer ) has crafted a wise and tender novel whose brooding hero seems emblematic of an Ireland that drives away its sons and daughters.
