'Ciaran McMenamin confirms his exceptional talent with this admirably powerful and authentic novel about the First World War and the struggle for Irish independence. Tremendous' William Boyd
Longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
Annie, Francie and Archie were inseparable growing up, but in 1914 the boys are seduced by the drama of the Great War. Before leaving their small Irish village for the trenches, Francie promises his true love Annie that he will bring her little brother home safe.
Six years later Francie is on the run, a wanted man in the Irish war of Independence. He needs Annie's help to escape safely across the border, but that means confronting the truth about why Archie never came back....
For readers of Sebastian Faulks, Ian McEwan and Sebastian Barry
Rezensionen / Stimmen
A powerful reflection on complex Irish loyalties, divisions and identities, a romantic drama, and a page-turning thriller. * Irish Times * Ambitious and powerful...superbly drawn...McMenamin's ambitious novel scores big * Sunday Times * [A] violent and tender story where memorable characters battle love, loyalty and the terrible truths of war -- Eithne Farry * Daily Mail * There is a smooth grace to his prose...The tension between the compulsions of history and circumstance, and personal moral choice, are played out compellingly * Irish Independent * Ciaran McMenamin confirms his exceptional talent with this admirably powerful and authentic novel about the First World War and the struggle for Irish independence. Tremendous. * William Boyd * This gripping novel shifts between [the] race to the south and a slow reveal of what happened between the three men on the Western Front...McMenamin never puts a foot wrong, expertly interweaving the historical and the imagined, right up to his masterly denouement * Hot Press * It's gorgeously written, it's cracking, it runs along with great vivid passages.' * Rick O'Shea, Top Picks for 2021 * McMenamin writes with verve and honesty * Irish Times * Ambitious and powerful...superbly drawn...a stirring novel broad in location and historical sweep...within a tradition that includes O'Connor, Liam O'Flaherty, Sebastian Barry and Frank McGuinness... Paramount in this tradition is the need to expose the big lies, to help us to see the conflict with fresh eyes - and on all of these counts, McMenamin's ambitious novel scores big * Sunday Times * A masterful depiction of the human cost of war...reveals how even in the worst of horrors, and against all the odds, love can survive. McMenamin writes with a passionate intensity. * David Park *
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ISBN-13
978-1-4735-7338-3 (9781473573383)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Ciaran McMenamin was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, in 1975. A graduate of the RSAMD, he has worked extensively for the past twenty years as an actor in film, television and theatre. His acclaimed first novel, Skintown, was a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick.