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Reading in the Dark cover

Reading in the Dark

Seamus Deane

#1322 of 8,085 books · #682 in Fiction

Shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (1997) and the Booker Prize (1996).

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.

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Publisher
Jonathan Cape
ISBN-13
9781473573819
Genre
Topics
Coming of ageFamily secretsPolitical conflict in Northern Ireland

Awards

Other awarded books from Seamus Deane

Seamus Deane has no other awarded or shortlisted books yet.