Description
*One Dublin One Book choice for 2022*
*Shortlisted for an Irish Book Award 2021*
When Nora Barnacle, a twenty-year-old from Galway working as a maid at Finn's Hotel, meets young James Joyce on a summer's day in Dublin, she is instantly attracted to him, natural and daring in his company. But she cannot yet imagine the extraordinary life they will share together. All Nora knows is she likes her Jim enough to leave behind family and home, in search of a bigger, more exciting life.
As their family grows, they ricochet from European city to city, making fast friends amongst the greatest artists and writers of their age as well as their wives, and are brought high and low by Jim's ferocious ambition. But time and time again, Nora is torn between their intense and unwavering desire for each other and the constant anxiety of living hand-to-mouth, often made worse by Jim's compulsion for company and attention. So, while Jim writes and drinks his way to literary acclaim, Nora provides unflinching support and inspiration, sometimes at the expense of her own happiness, and especially at that of their children, Giorgio and Lucia. Eventually, together, they achieve some longed-for security and stability, but it is hard-won and imperfect to the end.
In sensuous, resonant prose, Nuala O'Connor has conjured the definitive portrait of this strong, passionate and loyal Irishwoman. Nora is a tour de force, an earthy and authentic love letter to Irish literature's greatest muse.
About the Author
Nuala O'Connor is a novelist, short story writer and poet, and lives in Co. Galway with her family. She is the author of four previous novels, including Becoming Belle (2018) and Miss Emily (2015), a reimagining of the life of Emily Dickinson, and six short story collections, her most recent being Joyride to Jupiter (2017). She has won many prizes for her short fiction including the Francis MacManus Award, the James Joyce Quarterly Fiction Contest and the UK's Short Fiction Journal Prize.
Nuala's work has also been nominated for numerous prizes including the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the International Dublin Literary Award. She is editor-in-chief at flash e-zine Splonk.
Reviews
O'Connor succeeds in rendering Nora and Jim as three-dimensional humans with the same frailties and foibles as the rest of us.
-- John Walshe * Sunday Business Post *'This fictional Nora is entirely convincing in her raw sensuality, her stubborn determination, her powerful sense of grievance and her inability to stop loving a deeply erratic, wildly manipulative yet enormously talented man.'
-- The New York Times'Nora brings Barnacle's unflinching loyalty and passion to life.'
* Sunday Independent *'...historical fiction brought lushly to life, laced with glorious prose...'
-- Martina Devlin * Irish Independent *Everything in the novel has been carefully measured and painstakingly researched to present what I think is as accurate a portrayal of Nora Barnacle as is possible. If you are familiar with the life of the Joyces, this novel is immensely rewarding in that you know you can trust O'Connor's accuracy and, therefore, her construct. If you know little, you will learn a lot. Either way, I highly recommend it.
-- Good Reads ReviewerThis is truly an exceptional piece of writing from Nuala O'Connor. Nora Barnacle and James Joyce - a partnership, a contradiction, an adventure, a lifelong love.
-- Good Reads ReviewerIn language brimming with evocative imagery and energy, O'Connor resurrects a life - and a love - of magnificent intensity.
-- Afric McGlinchey * Dublin Review of Books *From its opening pages, O'Connor offers a stream of consciousness narrative, reminiscent of Joyce's own voice.
-- Irina L. Strout * Irish Literary Supplement, Boston College, Massachusetts. *Book Information
ISBN 9781848408500
Author Nuala O'Connor
Format Paperback
Page Count 448
Imprint New Island Books
Publisher New Island Books
Weight(grams) 478g
Dimensions(mm) 215mm * 135mm * 40mm
