Reading in the Dark

(Paperback)

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Description

A new Vintage Classics edition of a masterful story of childhood, family and a violent politics - part of a set of beautiful presented Irish classics This is the story of a haunted Irish childhood. The setting is Derry in the Northern Ireland of the 40s and 50s, fraught with political hatred, family secrets and lethal intrigue. As a young boy tries to make sense of life, poverty and violence shift and obscure the facts; meanwhile his night-time reading of Irish legends weaves enchantment through reality. Claustrophobic but lyrically charged, breathtakingly sad but vibrant and unforgettable, this is one of the finest books about growing up - in Ireland or anywhere - that has ever been written. See also- The Green Road by Anne Enright

Reviews

Reading In The Dark is a swift, masterful transformation of family griefs and political violence into something at once rhapsodic and heartbreaking. If 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 *

Author Bio

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.