Redemption Falls: A Novel - Softcover

O'Connor, Joseph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416553177 ISBN 13: 9781416553175

Publisher: Free Press, 2008

Synopsis

1865. The Civil War is ending. Eighteen years after the Irish famine-ship Star of the Sea docked at New York, a daughter of its journey, Eliza Duane Mooney, sets out on foot from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, crossing a ravaged continent on a quest. Eliza is searching for a young boy she has not seen in four years, one of the hundred thousand children drawn into the war. His fate has been mysterious and will prove extraordinary.

It is a walk that will have consequences for many seemingly unconnected survivors: the stunning intellectual Lucia-Cruz McLelland, who deserts New York City to cast her fate with mercurial hero James Con O'Keeffe -- convict, revolutionary, governor of the desolate Western township of Redemption Falls; rebel guerilla Cole McLaurenson, who fuels his own gruesome Westward mission with the blind rage of an outlaw; runaway slave Elizabeth Longstreet, who turns resentment into grace in a Western wilderness where nothing is as it seems.

O'Keeffe's career has seen astonishing highs and lows. Condemned to death in 1848 for plotting an insurrection against British rule in Ireland, his sentence was commuted to life transportation to Van Diemen's Land, Tasmania. From there he escaped, abandoning a woman he loved, and was shipwrecked in the Pacific before making his way to the teeming city of New York. A spellbinding orator, he has been hailed a hero by Irish New Yorkers, refugees from the famine that has ravaged their homeland. His public appearances are thronged to the rafters and his story has brought him fame. He has married the daughter of a wealthy Manhattan family, but their marriage is haunted by a past full of secrets. The terrors of Civil War have shaken his every belief. Now alone in the west, he yearns for new beginnings.

Redemption Falls is a Dickensian tale of war and forgiveness, of strangers in a strange land, of love put to the ultimate test. Packed with music, balladry, poetry, and storytelling, this is "a vivid mosaic of a vast country driven wild by war" (Irish Independent), containing "moments of sustained brilliance which in psychological truth and realism make Daniel Defoe look like a literary amateur" (Sunday Tribune). With this riveting historical novel of urgent contemporary resonance, the author of the bestselling Star of the Sea now brings us a modern masterpiece.

About this title

Review:

"This book took my breath away." --Frank McCourt

"A major work of modern fiction from an astoundingly accomplished writer." -- The Guardian

"A huge achievement, as deep as it is wide, this is a book like no other of these times -- a panorama of violence, vigor, and tragic love set among people devastated by the American Civil War, brilliantly recounted in the multiple tones of their voices, writings, and songs, and realized with an empathy both impressive and extraordinarily moving." -- Nuala O'Faolain, author of Are You Somebody? and Almost There

"A superb achievement." -- The Irish Times

"Sensational...Hypnotically effective...Gone With the Wind rewritten by a Dublin-born apprentice to Charles Dickens." -- Brian Lynch, Irish Independent

"Redemption Falls...is told with extraordinary ingenuity, the tone a mixture of the playful and the grave, at times fast-moving, smart, and very clever, and then full of beautiful writing and heartbreaking sequences. The cadences of the competing voices in the book combine to produce a dazzling narrative." -- Colm Tóibín, author of The Master, winner of the 2006 Dublin International IMPAC Award

"Redemption Falls is a gem. It's a glorious book, enormous, virtuoso, and brave. Its scope is wide -- love, death, war, belonging -- and yet its gaze is intimate. At its heart is the story of a woman who wants to return to the only country she has -- her family. The language is at turns bawdy, ancient, poetic, grand, and funny. One can't dismiss the genius that's involved in being able to tell such necessary stories in a time of war and still be able to beat back all the clichés. The minute I finished the book I wanted to start reading it all over again." -- Colum McCann, author of Dancer (Irish Novel of the Year 2005) and Zoli

From the Publisher:

A tale of hatreds and mercies, of balladry and the blues, of war and peace and the healing power of forgiveness, Redemption Falls is an epic and unforgettable love story, from the author of international best-seller Star of the Sea.

About this edition

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1416553177
• ISBN 13: 9781416553175
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480