Time Present and Time Past - Softcover

Madden, Deirdre

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571290868 ISBN 13: 9780571290864

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2013

Synopsis

Fintan Buckley is a pleasant, rather conventional and unimaginative man, who works as a legal adviser in an import/export firm in Dublin. He lives in Howth and is married to Colette. They have two sons who are at university, and a small daughter.

As he goes about his life, working and spending time with his family, Fintan begins to experience states of altered consciousness and auditory hallucinations, which seem to take him out of a linear experience of time. He becomes interested in how we remember or imagine the past, an interest trigged by becoming aware of early photography, particularly early colour photography. He also finds himself thinking more about his own past, including time spent holidaying in the north of Ireland as a child with his father's family. Over the years he has become distanced from them, and in the course of the novel this link is re-established and helps to bring him understanding and peace, although in a most unexpected way.

Time Present and Time Past, Deirdre Madden's eighth novel for adults, is about time: about how not just daily life and one's own, or one's family's past, intersect with each other.

About this title

Review:

'With her latest offering, Madden adds a consummately crafted novel to an already formidable body of work ... the novel takes its title from the 'Burnt Norton' section of TS Eliot's Four Quartets ... by the end of the book the reader realises that Madden - cleverly, playfully, with sly wit and real skill - has translated this intellectual and poetic expression of time into a deeply moving portrait of domestic and family life. (Adam O'Riordan Sunday Telegraph)

This is an exalting story that celebrates the survival of fragile folk, and revels in the mysteries of the commonplace. An outstanding book. (Mary Shine Thompson Irish Independent)

Madden's precise, cool narrative is as condensed and rich as a stock cube, and there's always a confidence that she knows exactly what she wants to convey ... the book is beautifully written and gently invites us to consider the shifting patterns of time.' (Andrea Mullaney The Scotsman)

Confiding and measured, and allows fantasy to challenge memory and yet remain the truth. (Mary Leland Irish Examiner)

Book Description:

Time Present and Time Past by Deirdre Madden is a brilliant and beautiful new novel from the acclaimed and much-loved author of Molly Fox's Birthday.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0571290868
• ISBN 13: 9780571290864
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240