Ghost Light
- Published: 2 May 2011
- ISBN: 9781446435755
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 272
A brilliant novel.
Joseph O'Neill
[A] superbly written, magically evocative novel
David Robinson, The Scotsman
This remarkable, radiant and captivating novel... (is) deeply and resolutely imagined... O'Connor's novel carries all the pungency and resonance of a particular era of the past.
Patricia Craig, The Independent
Masterful in its management of re-imagined lives and the time they inhabit
Hugo Hamilton, Financial Times
A virtuoso display of literary talent
Adrian Frazier, Irish Times
A deeply moving, beautifully written story
Glasgow Herald
A tender compassionate love story
Keith Hopper, Times Literary Supplement
He brings to life the joys and disappointments of a doomed romance with a rare and sparkling intensity
Books Ireland
O'Connor has fashioned the delicate bloom of a love story... Beautifully written and charming
James Urquhart, The Independent
Displays typical imaginative virtuosity and emotional depth in his re-creation of the ill-fated romance between the ailing playwright JM Synge and Molly Allgood ... As well as being impressively well crafted, the novel is wreathed in language of Joycean richness.
Trevor Lewis, The Sunday Times
This is an entertaining read that carries a touching tale
The Economist
In this beautifully crafted narrative...that vanished turn-of-the-century world - and the oblique character of Synge - are evoked as magically as the world of London in the 1950s
Reader's Digest
Ghost Light is as fine-boned and delicately wrought as a bird's skeleton, each part interlinking and making a beautiful whole. The pace is slow, but the novel comes to an acutely moving climax: a fitting end to a haunting book about the lasting importance of memory, and the absurdity of love.
Philip Womack, Telegraph
An astonishing command of voice and period detail
Colm Toibin, Daily Telegraph Summer Reads
Joseph O'Connor is one of the most exciting novelists of his generation
David Robson, Daily Mail
Displays an astonishing command of voice, using tones that are both tender and powerfully emotional, with brilliant command of the period.
Colm Toibin, Daily Telegraph, Christmas round up
Involving novel
Peter Kemp, Sunday Times, Christmas round up
Absolutely brilliant - a beautifully written love story and somehow, a chunk of Irish social and political history.
Roddy Doyle, Guardian, Christmas round up
O'Conner's involving novel puts you inside the mind of Molly Allgood, an elderly actress wandering round a brilliantly evoked 1950's London... Contrasting with the down-at-heel circumstances to which she is reduced are memories, rendered with sensuous freshness and vernacular wit, of her rich past
Peter Kemp, Sunday Times Magazine
This is a dream of a novel, beautifully written, the tragedy of a disappointed life wrapped in the chewy crust of indomitable humour... take [it] away somewhere quiet and listen to its music for yourself. You won't regret it
Arminta Wallace, Irish Times
Throughout a complex structure with shifting timeframes, O'Connor's writing is compellingly beautiful and Molly is marvelously drawn. A captivating read
Guardian
A boutique examination of the love affair between JM Synge, Ireland's eminent 20th century playwright, and his fiancée, the actress Molly Allgood ... the tenderness, passion and risk of their drawn out affair is captured in O'Connor's elegant but wistful prose
James Urquhart, Financial Times
Without wasting a word, he conjures up a dilapidated 1950s London that perfectly mirrors its heroine, and creates a spellbinding tale of thwarted love
Herald
I had to read some bits out loud, they were so funny
Gemma Kappala-Ramsamy, Observer
An involving novel that takes us inside the mind of an elderly actress drifting round a brilliantly evoked 1950s London. Contrasting with her reduced circumstances are her memories, rendered with sensuous freshness.
Sunday Times
This is a great ambitious novel about love, loss, lamentation. Joseph O'Connor has the magic touch...I can't imagine many better -- or braver -- novels coming out this year.
Colum McCann