The Mangan Inheritance (New York Review Books Classics) - Softcover

Moore, Brian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590174488 ISBN 13: 9781590174487

Publisher: NYRB Classics, 2011

Synopsis

James Mangan is adrift. He has lived in the shadow of his brilliant movie-star wife for years and now she has finally dispensed with him. Then he comes across an old daguerreotype of a man bearing a remarkable resemblance to him. Is it in fact a photograph of the great 19th-century Irish poet James Clarence Mangan, rumored to be Jamie's direct ancestor? Off to Ireland he goes, determined to discover his roots and to locate himself. What he finds is scarcely the heartwarming affirmation of identity he yearns for. On the contrary, the remaining members of the Mangan clan-its derelict matriarch Eileen, her drunken dwarf of a son Conor, oversexed teenage daughter, Kathleen, and the reticent and vaguely hostile Dinny-are haunted by a strange and dark family history.Three-times shortlisted for the Booker prize, Brian Moore was an unparalleled spinner of captivating tales. This novel, vividly set in such disparate locations as New York City, Montreal, and rural Ireland, sweeps the reader into a story of literary suspense about the hidden legacies that shape our lives.

About this title

Review:

"The Mangan Inheritance is a gift. A fine novelistic legacy. So much so that most readers will resent the last page and greedily (but oh so justifiably) demand more Moore."
--Robert Gish, The Chicago Tribune

"What amazes about Brian Moore is the consistency of excellent that runs like a rich vein of gold through all his novels. The Mangan Inheritance is both scary and erotic, a primitive and visceral tour de force about the imperfections of blood and birthright.--John Gregory Dunne

"A search for roots in an Ireland without malarkey which evnds with a Grand Guignol revelation. A master work by a consummate storyteller at the top of his form."--Josh Greenfield

"The Mangan Inheritance is a wonderful fictional antidote to the present craving for roots, and at the same time a sardonic and witty and winning novel in the powerful Moore tradition."--Richard Ellmann

"Another strange and wonderful fantasy from Brian Moore.... Life, as all ironists know, is not just what one might have expected. Dreams and mystery as well as irony are prominent qualities of Brian Moore's fiction."--Margaret Manning, The Boston Globe

"Brian Moore's reputation as a supremely entertaining 'serious' writer is secure." --Joyce Carol Oates

From the Back Cover:

James Mangan, a none too successful poet, finds he has also failed in love when his beautiful, acclaimed actress wife suddenly deserts him. Seeking solace in his father’s country lodge, Mangan comes across a mysterious photograph of his doppelgänger, an Irish ancestor who was also a poet. Excited at the prospect of uncovering a previously hidden lyrical past, he sets off for Ireland, but is shocked to discover instead a violent history of intrigue, incest and madness...

‘'The Mangan Inheritance' is a marvellous book. The storytelling is faultless and I have read no book recently that had in greater measure that quality for which no superior word need be sought but ‘unputdownability’ ... a superb product of the imagination.’
PAUL ABLEMAN, 'Spectator'

‘A passionately detailed and evocative work... what’s exceptionally good is the way it sustains the powerful, simple idea of the quest inside the worrying, edgy details of a modern life.’
HERMIONE LEE, 'Observer'

‘Brian Moore is a highly intelligent writer who has the enviable ability to make you want to go on turning the pages.’
A.N. WILSON, 'Evening Standard'

‘Moore is one of the boldest and most inventive contemporary novelists.’
LITERARY REVIEW

About this edition

• Publisher: NYRB Classics
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1590174488
• ISBN 13: 9781590174487
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352