From the bestselling Costa Prize-winning author of The Secret Scripture another heartbreaking novel spanning a lifetime.
Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. His plays include The Steward of Christendom and The Pride of Parnell Street and his novels include The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, Annie Dunne, A Long Long Way and The Secret Scripture. A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Dublin International Impac Prize, and was the Dublin: One City One Book for 2007. The Secret Scripture won the Costa Book of the Year award, the Irish Book Awards Best Novel, the Independent Booksellers Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in Wicklow with his wife and three children.
Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. He has written numerous plays including Grady's Boys (1988) and The Pride of Parnell Street (2007). His novels include The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998), Annie Dunne (2002), A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008). A Long Long Way, which was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Dublin International Impac Prize, was the Dublin: One City One Book choice for 2007. The Secret Scripture won the Costa Book of the Year award, the Irish Book Awards Best Novel and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. It was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in Wicklow with his wife and three children.
""On Canaan's Side" is written with vast sympathy and tenderness.
Sebastian Barry's handling of voice and cadence is masterly. His
fictional universe is filled with life, quiet truth and exquisite
intimacy; it is also fully alert to the power and irony of history.
In evoking Lilly Bere, he has created a most memorable
character."--Colm Toibin, author of the Costa Novel Award winning
"Brooklyn"
"[A] compact but leisurely told narrative rich in mood and
depth..." On Canaan's Side"'s climactic pages glow with wonder and
terror. They reach a catharsis of prose poetry as they mingle
dramatically."--New York Journal of Books
"A marvel of empathy and tact." --Joseph O'Neill, author of the PEN
/ Faulkner Award winning novel "Netherland"
"Barry takes quiet lives, in this instance Lilly Bere's, adds the
backdrop of political turmoil in Ireland after WWI, couples it with
the expanse of 21st-century America, and ends up with a story that
is both epic and intimate...this masterful storyteller takes[s]
your breath away, after taking your hand and walking you through
these lives, creating attachment and empathy for his characters yet
leaving you with joy; appreciating light from the dark. You are
safe and satisfied and enriched by his writing."--Roxanne Coady,
Publisher's Weekly "Galley Talk"
"Gorgeously written."--Milkwaukee Journal-Sentinel
"Lilly Bere is exceptional. She frees herself from one homeland and
takes root in another. Her story is as American as it is
Irish...elegiac...this Dubliner's portrayal of our city feels
organic. From the East Ohio Gas explosion to a run-in with racism
at Luna Park, he weaves a rich, authentic backdrop. His prose is
roundabout and tender...It's a testament to the power of Barry's
quietly elegant prose that her immigrant story seems so tragic and
so real."--Laura DeMarco, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Richly detailed, often cinematic...This is no self-indulgent
apologia, and Irish writer Sebastian Barry makes the fine
distinction between sentiment and sentimentality with a deft
hand...With all the quiet interiority and the equanimity with which
events are recalled here, it's easy to overlook how exciting those
events were. The "plot" is full of surprises - many shocking. War,
single parenthood, betrayal, unexpected acts of compassion, death
too early - or in at least one case, too late - and race relations
are all threads in the tapestry of Lilly's life. Accommodations
must be made at every turn and Lilly makes them, all the while
maintaining her own moral poise. Deservedly short-listed twice
previously for the Man Booker Prize, Barry in his current offering
maintains, and at times exceeds, the high level of finely wrought
empathy attained in those award nominees...And as in those two
novels, the play of history as it most intimately affects
individual lives in such an infinite variety of ways is on
exquisitely touching display."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Sebastian Barry is a significant Irish writer and his new novel,
set mainly in the United States, is a wonderful introduction to his
work...The plot is beautifully crafted. Lilly's wanderings...make
the story seem episodic, but Barry knows exactly what he's doing;
the latter part of the novel has several convincing
surprises."--Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Sebastian Barry, one of Ireland's most successful playwrights and
novelists, is at his best when he is writing about those who find
themselves marginalized in the new Ireland as it emerges from under
the yoke of British. And in his new book, "On Canaan's Side", we
once again find him dealing with characters whose lives are swept
up in the changing tide of Ireland's independence...As always with
Barry, the language is beautiful. I had to slow myself down to
savor the way he puts words together, for he is a master
craftsman."--Patricia, Harty Irish America
"Sebastian Barry's achievement, enhanced by his latest novel, "On
Canaan's Side", may be too great to be defined by the Booker or any
other literary prize. Barry, the greatest prose writer in Irish
letters--which by definition makes him the greatest writer of prose
in the English language...No other novelist now writing can convey
as Barry does the way in which unrighted wrongs continue to
reverberate down through the ages, creating new versions of old
tragedies for people with no knowledge of their origins..."On
Canaan's Side "fits seamlessly into Barry's unique and expanding
vision, seeking to restore with language that which has been taken
away by time. Its real subject isn't politics or even history but
memory, a memory which reveals that 'a measure of tragedy is
stitched into everything if you follow the thread long
through.'"--Allen Barra, The Daily Beast "Must Reads"
"Somewhere on the second page of this book, your heart will break,
and you will devour every glimmering image and poetic line as if
the sheer act of reading might alter the course of Lilly Bere's
haunting tale. A story of love and loss, as Irish as the white
heather and as big-hearted as America itself." --Helen Simonson,
author of the "New York Times "bestselling "Major Pettigrew's Last
Stand "
"Tripping, liquid prose that adroitly evokes everything from the
smell of an Irish countryside to the heaviness of grief."--Booklist
The follow-up to Barry's extraordinary The Secret Scripture, this novel is the lyrical first-person account of Lilly Bere's extraordinary life. A Wicklow girl prodded through life by a series of tragedies, Lilly relates her story at the end of her days from the relative comfort of a seaside cottage in the Hamptons. Her many escapes from harm and even death are counterbalanced by the almost epic grandeur of the love she has shared throughout her existence. Barry suggests that even the perpetual grind of violence and war cannot unsettle Lilly's love, though the tragic passing of her beloved grandson, Bill, upends her equilibrium. Verdict Barry's prose is characteristically musical throughout and sometimes seems at odds with the dissonant events and discoveries that subtly drone throughout Lilly's story. Still, this novel masterfully treats great human subjects, identity, love, war, and death among them. Barry brilliantly conveys how Lilly endures because of her love for others and how inevitable her own end must be when those she loves have passed away. Readers of Roddy Doyle's The Last Roundup trilogy will savor On Canaan's Side. [See Prepub Alert, 3/23/11.]-John G. Matthews, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
""On Canaan's Side" is written with vast sympathy and tenderness.
Sebastian Barry's handling of voice and cadence is masterly. His
fictional universe is filled with life, quiet truth and exquisite
intimacy; it is also fully alert to the power and irony of history.
In evoking Lilly Bere, he has created a most memorable
character."--Colm Toibin, author of the Costa Novel Award winning
"Brooklyn"
"[A] compact but leisurely told narrative rich in mood and
depth..." On Canaan's Side"'s climactic pages glow with wonder and
terror. They reach a catharsis of prose poetry as they mingle
dramatically."--New York Journal of Books
"A marvel of empathy and tact." --Joseph O'Neill, author of the PEN
/ Faulkner Award winning novel "Netherland"
"Barry takes quiet lives, in this instance Lilly Bere's, adds the
backdrop of political turmoil in Ireland after WWI, couples it with
the expanse of 21st-century America, and ends up with a story that
is both epic and intimate...this masterful storyteller takes[s]
your breath away, after taking your hand and walking you through
these lives, creating attachment and empathy for his characters yet
leaving you with joy; appreciating light from the dark. You are
safe and satisfied and enriched by his writing."--Roxanne Coady,
Publisher's Weekly "Galley Talk"
"Gorgeously written."--Milkwaukee Journal-Sentinel
"Lilly Bere is exceptional. She frees herself from one homeland and
takes root in another. Her story is as American as it is
Irish...elegiac...this Dubliner's portrayal of our city feels
organic. From the East Ohio Gas explosion to a run-in with racism
at Luna Park, he weaves a rich, authentic backdrop. His prose is
roundabout and tender...It's a testament to the power of Barry's
quietly elegant prose that her immigrant story seems so tragic and
so real."--Laura DeMarco, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Richly detailed, often cinematic...This is no self-indulgent
apologia, and Irish writer Sebastian Barry makes the fine
distinction between sentiment and sentimentality with a deft
hand...With all the quiet interiority and the equanimity with which
events are recalled here, it's easy to overlook how exciting those
events were. The "plot" is full of surprises - many shocking. War,
single parenthood, betrayal, unexpected acts of compassion, death
too early - or in at least one case, too late - and race relations
are all threads in the tapestry of Lilly's life. Accommodations
must be made at every turn and Lilly makes them, all the while
maintaining her own moral poise. Deservedly short-listed twice
previously for the Man Booker Prize, Barry in his current offering
maintains, and at times exceeds, the high level of finely wrought
empathy attained in those award nominees...And as in those two
novels, the play of history as it most intimately affects
individual lives in such an infinite variety of ways is on
exquisitely touching display."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Sebastian Barry is a significant Irish writer and his new novel,
set mainly in the United States, is a wonderful introduction to his
work...The plot is beautifully crafted. Lilly's wanderings...make
the story seem episodic, but Barry knows exactly what he's doing;
the latter part of the novel has several convincing
surprises."--Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Sebastian Barry, one of Ireland's most successful playwrights and
novelists, is at his best when he is writing about those who find
themselves marginalized in the new Ireland as it emerges from under
the yoke of British. And in his new book, "On Canaan's Side", we
once again find him dealing with characters whose lives are swept
up in the changing tide of Ireland's independence...As always with
Barry, the language is beautiful. I had to slow myself down to
savor the way he puts words together, for he is a master
craftsman."--Patricia, Harty Irish America
"Sebastian Barry's achievement, enhanced by his latest novel, "On
Canaan's Side", may be too great to be defined by the Booker or any
other literary prize. Barry, the greatest prose writer in Irish
letters--which by definition makes him the greatest writer of prose
in the English language...No other novelist now writing can convey
as Barry does the way in which unrighted wrongs continue to
reverberate down through the ages, creating new versions of old
tragedies for people with no knowledge of their origins..."On
Canaan's Side "fits seamlessly into Barry's unique and expanding
vision, seeking to restore with language that which has been taken
away by time. Its real subject isn't politics or even history but
memory, a memory which reveals that 'a measure of tragedy is
stitched into everything if you follow the thread long
through.'"--Allen Barra, The Daily Beast "Must Reads"
"Somewhere on the second page of this book, your heart will break,
and you will devour every glimmering image and poetic line as if
the sheer act of reading might alter the course of Lilly Bere's
haunting tale. A story of love and loss, as Irish as the white
heather and as big-hearted as America itself." --Helen Simonson,
author of the "New York Times "bestselling "Major Pettigrew's Last
Stand "
"Tripping, liquid prose that adroitly evokes everything from the
smell of an Irish countryside to the heaviness of grief."--Booklist
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