The Light of Evening

· Faber & Faber
Ebook
304
Pages
Eligible
This book will become available on November 18, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.

About this ebook

Such is the wrath of the mothers, such is the cry of the mothers, such is the lamentation of the mothers.

Ageing Dilly Macready lies in her hospital bed in Dublin, awaiting a final visit from her estranged daughter, Eleanora, an author who fled rural Ireland years before, after her sensual first novel caused a local scandal. Through memories and journals, both mother and daughter find themselves reliving the strains, disagreements, expectations and disappointments of their complicated relationship, ultimately finding that their enduring connection remains powerful and true.

This is a late novel by O'Brien at the height of her powers, in which she delves deep into the beautiful but intense relationship that exists between mothers and daughters.

About the author

Edna O'Brien wrote more than twenty celebrated works of fiction, including her classic The Country Girls trilogy, as well as plays and four works of non-fiction, which have been translated into over thirty languages. Her final novel Girl was awarded the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year in 2020. She was the recipient of many honours, including the Irish PEN Lifetime Achievement Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, and the David Cohen Prize for Literature, as well as being 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.

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