Nothing Happens in Carmincross by Benedict Kiely

Nothing Happens in Carmincross by Benedict Kiely

Carmincross, where nothing happens, is a small town in Ulster. Mervyn Kavanagh, one of its wandering sons (Catholic as opposed to Protestant) has been teaching in America's 'semi-Deep South', where he has acquired - and lost - a wife. Now, in 1973, he is on his way home to attend the wedding of a favourite niece. As he sets off from Shannon toward tranquil Carmincross in the company of a former girlfriend, warm memories come flooding back. But one cloud proves impossible to dispel, for Mervyn is haunted by dark thoughts of bombs, rubber bullets, political murder, political mutilation, terrorism and counterterrorism - not only in Ireland, but with the Troubles, naturally enough, uppermost in his mind. For some, he meets en route, the perpetrators are gallant freedom fighters; for others, terrorist fanatics. Yet as the arguments bubble, another outrage is being prepared; and when at last it strikes, with a terrible inevitability, in Carmincross itself, the consequences are horrifyingly unpredictable. Tense, ironic, humane, horrifying and brutally funny, "Nothing Happens in Carmincross" is a masterpiece by one of Northern Ireland's greatest writers.

"* 'The principle thrust of this book is a revulsion against terrorism of both homegrown and international varietiesIt is an all too timely theme, and one to which this remarkable novel does justice in a masterly fashion' John Gross, New York Times * 'No man not weighted with loss could summon the anger that is behind this book. He gives us the natural world, the evolutionary history, and the society that is in shreds within them' William Kennedy, author of The Albany Cycle * 'Readers may find it hard to see much scope for comedy in such material, yet it is often brilliantly funny...it brings a searing wit to the grim events it describes. But the atrocities he conjures up are atrocities indeed' John Gross, New York Times * 'If you are thinking of going to Ireland this summer, take care to read this book. In its deceptively rambling manner it conveys, better than any other book I can think of, a sense of the relationship of modern Catholic Ireland to its past, and the bearing of that relation on its future' Conor Cruise O'Brien, New York Review of Books"

Along with Brian Friel, Seamus Heaney, Anthony Cronin and the painter Louis le Brocquy, Benedict Kiely is a Saoi of the Aosdana - an honour of the Irish state limited to five Irish citizens who have shown sustained distinction in the arts. His other work includes The Collected Short Stories of Benedict Kiely and The Captain with the Whiskers. He lives in Donnybrook, Dublin..

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780413776419
ISBN 10	0413776417
Title	Nothing Happens in Carmincross
Author	Benedict Kiely
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Methuen Publishing Ltd
Year published	2007-03-15
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable