Death and Nightingales
by Eugene McCabe
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Description
A “deeply moving, powerful, and unforgettable book" (Michael Ondaatje), Death and Nightingales is an epic story of love, deception, betrayal and revenge, set on a single day in the Irish countryside in 1883. Soon to be a major television event starring Matthew Rhys and Jamie Dornan. It is 1883 and the farms of County Fermanagh, on the border of Ulster and what we now know as the Republic of Ireland, are crisscrossed with religious, political, and generational tensions. Through the events show more of a single day in the life of Elizabeth Winters, we see decades of pain, betrayal, and resentment build to a devastating climax. Against the fearsome beauty of the Fermanagh landscape, the fate of McCabe's heroine, Beth, slowly and suspensefully unfolds. Born to a Catholic mother and an unknown Catholic father, conceived shortly before her mother's marriage to Protestant Billy Winters, Beth has lived a life of silent suffering since her mother's death. Determined to decide her own fate but doomed to repeat the tragic circumstances of her birth, McCabe illuminates her quiet, searing power with the tenderness of a poet, offering up a powerful, lyrical indictment of the tensions that tear families and nations apart. 'A masterpiece. Death and Nightingales is a miracle of a novel which combines prose of bleak, unadorned beauty with a plot which keeps you up all night.'-Colm Toibin 'A deeply moving, powerful, and unforgettable book' - Michael Ondaatje 'Brilliant, richly conceived, and perfectly narrated with the suspense of a good thriller.' -Kirkus Reviews (starred review.) show lessTags
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Member Reviews
On her birthday, Beth Winters has promised to give herself an unusual present. She is going to leave the home of her abusive father and start a new life with Liam Ward, her lover and the father of her unborn child. As the day progresses, and Beth's history is unfolded, it becomes clear that she does not know this Liam Ward as well as she thought. And when she is told a horrifying truth, she must discard all her plans for her last grim recourse.
A dark tale set in the grim Irish countryside in 1883, this novel examines the effect bitterness and a bleak history can have upon human affection.
A dark tale set in the grim Irish countryside in 1883, this novel examines the effect bitterness and a bleak history can have upon human affection.
a quietly brilliant very Irish story, famine, troubles, beautiful descriptions of county Fermanagh
The BBC made a series based on the book in 2018, not sure if it is available here yet
The BBC made a series based on the book in 2018, not sure if it is available here yet
Why this book? Because there is a series with Matthew Rhys. Unfortunately, I can't find this series here in the USA but I'm on an email list to be notified when it's available???
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Lists
TML 200 Best Books 1950-1999
202 works; 10 members
The Modern Library (The Two Hundred Best Novels....
202 works; 1 member
Author Information
16+ Works 322 Members
Eugene McCabe was born in Glasgow in 1930. He is the recipient of the Butler Award from the Irish American Cultural Institute. His works include the novel Death and Nightingales, the award-winning novella Victims, and the screenplay for his story Cancer, which won the Prague International Award
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1992
- Related movies
- Death and Nightingales (IMDb)
- First words
- A lack of bird-call, a sense of encroaching light and then far away the awful dawn bawling of a beast in great pain.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 214
- Popularity
- 152,088
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- English, French, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 12
- ASINs
- 7
