About this ebook
'The taboo-breaking, the fabulous prose - there's no one like Edna O'Brien.' Anne Enright
'Surprising and beautiful and courageous .. A beacon. ' Megan Nolan
'Novels of heart-breaking empathy, rigorous honesty and peerless beauty.' Eimear McBride
'Brilliant and brave.' Ann Patchett
'Glittering energy.' Colm Tóibín
ONE OF THE BBC'S '100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD'
Caithleen 'Kate' Brady and Bridget 'Baba' Brennan are growing up in a repressive Irish village after World War II. Kate is a romantic, looking for love; Baba is a reckless survivor. After being expelled from convent school, they dream of the bright lights of Dublin - and are rewarded with bad luck and bad sex; marry for the wrong reasons; but continue to fight the expectations forced upon 'girls' of every era to become brave new women.
This is the second novel in Edna O'Brien's trilogy wich revolutionised Irish literature in the 1960s. Banned by the authorities as 'indecent' and burned by the clergy, they were notorious for their frank portrayal of sexual desire: but scandal turned to fame, and made this glorious coming-of-age tale an instant classic that inspires and delights readers to this day.
'Surprising and beautiful and courageous .. A beacon. ' Megan Nolan
'Novels of heart-breaking empathy, rigorous honesty and peerless beauty.' Eimear McBride
'Brilliant and brave.' Ann Patchett
'Glittering energy.' Colm Tóibín
ONE OF THE BBC'S '100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD'
Caithleen 'Kate' Brady and Bridget 'Baba' Brennan are growing up in a repressive Irish village after World War II. Kate is a romantic, looking for love; Baba is a reckless survivor. After being expelled from convent school, they dream of the bright lights of Dublin - and are rewarded with bad luck and bad sex; marry for the wrong reasons; but continue to fight the expectations forced upon 'girls' of every era to become brave new women.
This is the second novel in Edna O'Brien's trilogy wich revolutionised Irish literature in the 1960s. Banned by the authorities as 'indecent' and burned by the clergy, they were notorious for their frank portrayal of sexual desire: but scandal turned to fame, and made this glorious coming-of-age tale an instant classic that inspires and delights readers to this day.
'The taboo-breaking, the fabulous prose - there's no one like Edna O'Brien.' Anne Enright
'Surprising and beautiful and courageous .. A beacon. ' Megan Nolan
'Novels of heart-breaking empathy, rigorous honesty and peerless beauty.' Eimear McBride
'Brilliant and brave.' Ann Patchett
'Glitterin...
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About the author
Edna O'Brien wrote more than twenty celebrated works of fiction as well as plays and four works of non-fiction, which have been translated into over thirty languages. She was the recipient of many honours and appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017. In 2021, O'Brien was also named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Born and raised in the west of Ireland, she lived in London for many years before her death in July 2024.
Edna O'Brien wrote more than twenty celebrated works of fiction as well as plays and four works of non-fiction, which have been translated into over thirty languages. She was the recipient of many honours and appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017. In 2021...
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