Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane
A haunted childhood, lived out in two dimensions. One is legendary: the Sun-fort of Grianan, home of the warrior Fianna; the Field of the Disappeared, over which no gulls fly; the house in Donegal where children are stolen away by demonic forces. The other is actual: the city of Derry in the Northern Ireland of the 40s and 50s; a place that is also haunted by political enmities, family secrets, lethal intrigue. The boy narrator of READING IN THE DARK grows up enclosed in these two worlds, sensing that they are intertwined in some mysterious ways that he both wants and does not want to discover. Through the silence that surrounds him, he feels the truth spreading like a stain until it engulfs him and his family. Claustrophobic but lyrically charged, breathtakingly sad but vibrant and unforgettable, READING IN THE DARK is one of the finest books about growing up - in Ireland or anywhere - that has ever been written.
Reading In The Dark is a swift, masterful transformation of family griefs and political violence into something at once rhapsodic and heartbreakingIf Isaac Babel had been born in Derry, he might have written this sudden, brilliant book. * Seamus Heaney *
Marvellous...almost impossible to put down -- Blake Morrison * Independent on Sunday *
Go into your nearest bookshop and buy Reading In The Dark... A novel that no reader with any concern for their heart or mind should be without -- A. L. Kennedy * Scotsman *
A wonderful evocation of childhood; a vibrant, unforgettable fragment that leaves you aching for more -- Robert McCrum * Observer *
A profoundly emotive and seamlessly structured exploration of loss and regret. It is also funny and authentic. What more could one ask of a book? -- Antonia Logue * Guardian *
Marvellous...almost impossible to put down -- Blake Morrison * Independent on Sunday *
Go into your nearest bookshop and buy Reading In The Dark... A novel that no reader with any concern for their heart or mind should be without -- A. L. Kennedy * Scotsman *
A wonderful evocation of childhood; a vibrant, unforgettable fragment that leaves you aching for more -- Robert McCrum * Observer *
A profoundly emotive and seamlessly structured exploration of loss and regret. It is also funny and authentic. What more could one ask of a book? -- Antonia Logue * Guardian *
Seamus Deane was born in Derry in 1940. He has published a number of works of criticism and poetry and is the general editor of the Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. He is currently teaching at the University of Notre Dame.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780099744412 |
| ISBN 10 | 0099744414 |
| Title | Reading in the Dark |
| Author | Seamus Deane |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 1997-04-03 |
| Number of pages | 240 |
| Prizes | Winner of Irish Times Literary Prize 1997, Winner of Guardian Fiction Prize 1996, Short-listed for Booker Prize for Fiction 1996, Short-listed for Guardian Fiction Prize 1996 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |