Judith Hearne

Judith Hearne

Author: Brian Moore

Publisher: New Canadian Library

Published: 1984

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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Brian Moore burst upon the literary scene in 1955 with this moving and brilliantly observed study of a woman imprisoned by the passage of time. He went on to be hailed as one of the best fiction writers of his generation. Alone in her room in a Belfast boarding house, Judith Hearne is almost overwhelmed by loneliness. Yet she still believes there is a chance for happiness, and she waits patiently for the moment when her life will turn from sorrowful longing to joy. By chance she meets a man - the man - and her dreams take on a brighter hue, only to be dashed once more. With skill and gentle insight, Moore depicts the disintegration of Judith Hearne' s last illusions. Clinging to the bottle for comfort, she becomes a tragic figure who speaks frankly about the human condition. Though we laugh at her foibles, we weep at her plight, and share her primal longing for love and connection. This touching story was made into a critically acclaimed motion picture in 1987.


The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

Author: Brian Moore

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2011-08-17

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1590174208

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One of The Guardian’s “1,000 Books to Read Before You Die” This underrated classic of contemporary Irish literature tells the “utterly transfixing” story of a lonely, poverty-stricken spinster in 1950s Belfast (The Boston Globe) Judith Hearne is an unmarried woman of a certain age who has come down in society. She has few skills and is full of the prejudices and pieties of her genteel Belfast upbringing. But Judith has a secret life. And she is just one heartbreak away from revealing it to the world. Hailed by Graham Greene, Thomas Flanagan, and Harper Lee alike, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is an unflinching and deeply sympathetic portrait of a woman destroyed by self and circumstance. First published in 1955, it marked Brian Moore as a major figure in English literature (he would go on to be short-listed three times for the Booker Prize) and established him as an astute chronicler of the human soul. “Seldom in modern fiction has any character been revealed so completely or been made to seem so poignantly real.” —The New York Times


The Statement

The Statement

Author: Brian Moore

Publisher: Vintage Canada

Published: 1997-02-25

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0394281993

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An innocuous white Peugeot makes its way around the monasteries of Southern France. No one would suspect its driver of being the target of commando hit-men and the gendarmerie's most wanted criminal sentenced twice to death in absentia for wartime crimes. For over forty years this fugitive has been sheltered by both the Catholic Church and the French Government. Now the net is closing in...


After Claude

After Claude

Author: Iris Owens

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2010-11-09

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1590174100

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Harriet is leaving her boyfriend Claude, “the French rat.” That at least is how Harriet sees things, even if it’s Claude who has just asked Harriet to leave his Greenwich Village apartment. Well, one way or another she has no intention of leaving. To the contrary, she will stay and exact revenge—or would have if Claude had not had her unceremoniously evicted. Still, though moved out, Harriet is not about to move on. Not in any way. Girlfriends circle around to patronize and advise, but Harriet only takes offense, and it’s easy to understand why. Because mad and maddening as she may be, Harriet sees past the polite platitudes that everyone else is content to spout and live by. She is an unblinkered, unbuttoned, unrelenting, and above all bitingly funny prophetess of all that is wrong with women’s lives and hearts—until, in a surprise twist, she finds a savior in a dark room at the Chelsea Hotel.


I Am Mary Dunne

I Am Mary Dunne

Author: Brian Moore

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2018-04-17

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 1504050290

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A day in the life of a mad housewife in Manhattan: “One of the truest and most awesome books I have ever read” (The Scotsman). She was born Mary Dunne. A New York actress in a stalled career, she’s previously been known as Maria and Martha. Married three times, she’s also been called Mrs. Phelan, Mrs. Bell, and currently, Mrs. Terence Lavery—wife of the esteemed playwright. No wonder Mary Dunne forgot her name this morning at the hairdresser. She has no idea who she is anymore. Or maybe she’s just crazy. She’s curious to find out. Over the course of a single day, Mary tries to recall more than her name. But as memories of her past come trickling back—infuriating, illuminating, and grievous—she realizes there’s so much she’d prefer to forget. As she tries to escape what she calls “the dooms,” Mary must confront what she’s done with her life—deliberately, haplessly, or by default. If only she were going crazy; it would be so much easier to explain it all away. Hailed by the Globe and Mail as a “feminist novel written before the wave of feminist novels began,” I Am Mary Dunne is “as complex and satisfying as anything Moore has yet done” (The Observer).


The Doctor's Wife

The Doctor's Wife

Author: Brian Moore

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2012-02-02

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1408828928

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE _______________________ 'Near perfection... one of the outstanding works of fiction of the year.' - The Times 'A splendidly bracing experience.' - New Statesman _______________________ Sheila Redden, a quiet, 37-year-old doctor's wife, has long been looking forward to returning with her husband to the town where they spent their honeymoon over twenty years ago. Little does she suspect that after a chance encounter in Paris she will end up spending her holiday with a man she has only just met, an American man ten years her junior. Four weeks later, Sheila is nowhere to be found. Owen Deane, her brother, follows her steps to Paris in the hopes of shedding some light on her disappearance, but soon begins to wonder if she will ever reappear. Interspersed with Sheila's harrowing memories of her hometown of Ulster at the height of the troubles, this is a compelling and powerful tale of love, escape and abandon. _______________________ 'The subject - an ordinary woman seized by love for a younger man in the middle of her life - supplies just the right material for Mr. Moore's tender, probing technique. It is uncanny: No other male writer, I swear (and precious few females), knows so much about women' - Sunday Telegraph


A Love of Reading

A Love of Reading

Author: Robert Adams

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Published: 2011-01-14

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 155199447X

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Every year, Robert Adams prepares a series of five reviews of contemporary novels, to be delivered alone on a theatre stage to sold-out audiences in Toronto and Montreal. In A Love of Reading Adams has now gathered 18 of his most brilliant reviews, from Jack Maggs by Peter Carey and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, to A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler. In them he skillfully interweaves a nimble and entertaining discussion of plot, theme, and characterization with fascinating historical, biographical, and literary context. He is repeatedly drawn to the spectacle of less-than-perfect humans making their way in a hostile world, and as a result a review by Robert Adams is almost always a hugely satisfying mix of rich pathos and abundant humour. Famously, Adams reads a book a day, from which he selects only those novels that are truly extraordinary, that have made him see some part of the world or some aspect of the human condition in a new light – because for Adams, the best books always take the reader on a journey, with a destination very distant from the point of departure. It should be not only a journey of discovery – an exploration of the author’s vision – but also of risk. By matching one’s own vision to that of the author, says Adams, the reader enters an exciting negotiation to produce a new vision of his own. This joint enterprise between reader and writer, the shared risk and the wonder of discovery, is the foundation of A Love of Reading. • For the last six years, Robert Adams has presented an annual series of book reviews to sold out audiences. Eighty per cent of Adams’ 3,000 subscribers in Toronto and Montreal renew for the following season • This book is a selection of modern classics from a discriminating and entertaining guide • Perfect for reading groups • Quill & Quire, noting the jump in sales of any book reviewed by Adams, has called the phenomenon “The Adams Effect”