Actress

(Hardback, Large Print Edition)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Katherine O'Dell is an Irish theater legend turned Hollywood film star. Every moment of her life is a performance, with her daughter, Norah, standing in the wings. With age, alcohol, and dimming stardom, however, Katherine's grip on reality grows fitful. Fueled by a proud and long-simmering rage, she commits a shocking crime. As Norah revisits her mother's life of fiercely kept secrets, she confronts in turn the secrets of her own sexual and emotional coming-of-age. With virtuosic storytelling and in prose at turns lyrical and knife-sharp, Anne Enright takes readers to the heart of the maddening yet tender love that binds a mother and daughter.

Reviews

Anne Enright writes so well that she just might ruin you for anyone else...Stripped raw of any sentimentality, the result is a critique, a confession, a love letter--and another brilliant novel from Anne Enright.--Ron Charles
Another triumph for Enright: a confluence of lyrical prose, immediacy, warmth, and emotional insight.
Captivating.--Sara Resnick
Enright's indelible images of the primal love between mother and daughter that ebbs, flows, and ultimately abides will stick with readers.
Gorgeously written fiction...Enright's unflinching portrait...is scrupulously developed and painfully moving.--Wendy Smith
Intoxicating.--Mary Gordon
There is something that seems effortless about Ms. Enright's writing--an illusion, of course, but one brilliantly sustained.--Sam Sacks