Foolish Mortals by Jennifer Johnston

Foolish Mortals by Jennifer Johnston

All families are complicated, but some are more complicated than others. And Christmas can only make matters worse. After Ciara's estranged father is nearly killed by his second wife in a car accident - or was it an accident? Ciara begins, gingerly, to reenter his life. As her troubled family gather for the holidays, is it too much to hope that they begin to find peace at last? Of course it is. With cross-dressing twins, new loves and an unpredictably monstrous matriarch, Christmas was never going to be easy. But it proves both more disastrous and happier than any of them could have guessed.

A sharp, unsentimental study of a complicated family and how love -- both chosen and unbidden -- shapes human lives -- Financial Times Despite an impressive body of work, which extends to plays for the stage and radio, she remains relatively little known and is often described as the most underrated of Irish authorsShe has the power if a quiet talent...her authorial voice is restrained and it is her dialogue which dominates the narrative...Foolish Morals "gives usa few glimpses of New Ireland, and Johnston's view of it is bleak, but not without hope' -- TLS Part of the author's achievement here is to undermine, with her customary elliptical deftness, conventional ideas about family relations and activities. Various kinds of female strength cancel out various masculine weaknesses as Johnston remains alive to the oddity, and the nuances, of middle-class updated life' -- Independent Johnston picks her way through the complicated emotional minefield of her 15th novel with a light step. The writing is witty and subtly nuanced and the book is as much about the new Ireland- modern, forward looking, practical and tolerant- as about the individual characters' -- Daily Mail 'A complex, wry domestic drama! a writer of the highest order' -- Sunday Telegraph 'Foolish Mortals has a cast of convincing characters...Johnston is one of the most revered Irish writers, and this, her fifteenth novel, makes us understand why. Her style is simple and colloquial...there are no literary pretensions: story and characters take priority. However, this modest approach works so well that the result is great writing all the same...Foolish Mortals is essentially an uplifting read' -- Time Out - Book of the Week

Jennifer Johnston is one of the foremost Irish writers of her, or any generation. She has won the Whitbread Prize (THE OLD JEST), the Evening Standard Best First Novel Award (for THE CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS), the Yorkshire Post Award, Best Book of the Year (twice, for THE CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS and HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON?). She has also been shortlisted for the Booker Prize with SHADOWS ON OUR SKIN.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780755330522
ISBN 10	0755330528
Title	Foolish Mortals
Author	Jennifer Johnston
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Headline Publishing Group
Year published	2007-10-04
Number of pages	256
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable