In this remarkable biographical essay, Colm Toibin examines the contradictions that defined Lady Gregory, an essential figure in Irish cultural history. She was the wife of a landlord and member of Parliament who had been personally responsible for introducing measures that compounded the misery of the Irish peasantry during the Great Famine. Yet, Lady Gregory devoted much of her creative energy to idealizing that same peasantry, while never abandoning the aristocratic hauteur, the social connections, or the great house that her birth and marriage had bequeathed to her. Lady Gregory's...
In this remarkable biographical essay, Colm Toibin examines the contradictions that defined Lady Gregory, an essential figure in Irish cultural histor...
Maurice Castle is a high-level operative in the British secret service during the Cold War. He is deeply in love with his African wife, who escaped apartheid South Africa with the help of his communist friend. Despite his misgivings, Castle decides to act as a double agent, passing information to the Soviets to help his in-laws in South Africa. In order to evade detection, he allows his assistant to be wrongly identified as the source of the leaks. But when suspicions remain, Castle is forced to make an even more excruciating sacrifice to save himself. Originally published in 1978, The...
Maurice Castle is a high-level operative in the British secret service during the Cold War. He is deeply in love with his African wife, who escaped ap...
This biography redefines the woman George Bernard Shaw once described as the greatest living Irishwoman - Augusta Gregory. A remarkable figure in Celtic history, she was married to an MP and land-owner, yet retained an unprecedented independence of both thought and deed, actively championing causes close to her heart.
This biography redefines the woman George Bernard Shaw once described as the greatest living Irishwoman - Augusta Gregory. A remarkable figure in Celt...
Soon after the Anglo-Irish agreement, Colm Toibin travelled along the Irish border from Derry to Newry. In this work he tells of fear and anger, and of the historical legacy that has imprinted itself on the landscape and its inhabitants."
Soon after the Anglo-Irish agreement, Colm Toibin travelled along the Irish border from Derry to Newry. In this work he tells of fear and anger, and o...
This book collects, for the first time, Colm Toibin's critical essays on Henry James. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel about James's life, The Master, Toibin brilliantly analyzes James from a novelist's point of view.
Known for his acuity and originality, Toibin is himself a master of fiction and critical works, which makes this collection of his writings on Henry James essential reading for literary critics. But he also writes for general readers. Until now, these writings have been scattered in introductions, essays in the Dublin Times, reviews in the...
This book collects, for the first time, Colm Toibin's critical essays on Henry James. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel about James's ...
On the heels of his bestselling and award-winning novel Brooklyn, Colm Toibin returns with a stunning collection of stories--now available in paperback--"a book that's both a perfect introduction to Toibin and, for longtime fans, a bracing pleasure" ( The Seattle Times ). Critics praised Brooklyn as a "beautifully rendered portrait of Brooklyn and provincial Ireland in the 1950s." In The Empty Family, Toibin has extended his imagination further, offering an incredible range of periods and characters--people linked by love, loneliness, desire--"the unvarying...
On the heels of his bestselling and award-winning novel Brooklyn, Colm Toibin returns with a stunning collection of stories--now available in p...
It is Ireland in the 1950s and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York, Eilis knows she must go, leaving behind her family and home for the first time.§Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has sacrificed. She is far from home - and homesick. Then, just
It is Ireland in the 1950s and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emi...
In this book, novelist Colm Toibin offers a deeply personal introduction to the work and life of one of his most important literary influences--the American poet Elizabeth Bishop. Ranging across her poetry, prose, letters, and biography, Toibin creates a vivid picture of Bishop while also revealing how her work has helped shape his sensibility as a novelist and how her experiences of loss and exile resonate with his own. What emerges is a compelling double portrait that will intrigue readers interested in both Bishop and Toibin.
For Toibin, the secret of Bishop's emotional power is...
In this book, novelist Colm Toibin offers a deeply personal introduction to the work and life of one of his most important literary influences--the...
In a small town in the south-east of Ireland in the 1950s, Eilis Lacey is among many of her generation who cannot find work at home. So when she is offered a job in America, she leaves her family to start a new life in Brooklyn, New York.
In a small town in the south-east of Ireland in the 1950s, Eilis Lacey is among many of her generation who cannot find work at home. So when she is of...
In the stories that make up this book, Colm Toibin delineates with a tender and unique sensibility lives of unspoken or unconscious longing, of individuals, often willingly, cast adrift from their history."
In the stories that make up this book, Colm Toibin delineates with a tender and unique sensibility lives of unspoken or unconscious longing, of indivi...
