McGahern, John

New York. 1990. September 1990. Viking Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0670811823. 184 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by Neil Stuart. Jacket illustration by Jenny Tylden-Wright. keywords: Literature Ireland. FROM THE PUBLISHER - In Amongst Women, John McGahern's first novel in a decade, this writer who has been compared to Joyce and described as an ‘Irish Chekov' wields his subtle artistry with a persistent psychological resonance and remarkable, disturbing clarity. At its center is Michael Moran, an embittered Irish Republican who detests the ‘small-minded gangsters' who now run the country for whose independence he fought. He is a volatile, pious man whose brutality has been transferred from the war to his own family. Home is his stronghold, not his hearth: his dominating presence is felt by all who enter. Although his three daughters and his second wife, Rose, love their tyrant, their conversation comes to an abrupt halt whenever he walks into a room. He is hard on his daughters - Maggie, a late bloomer who goes to London to study nursing; Sheila, an impulsive and assertive spirit whose chance at a university scholarship is thwarted by Moran's importunity; and the stubborn and hardworking Mona, who settles for the civil service career Moran decrees for her - but his sons suffer even more bitterly from his malevolence. The errant Luke and the youngest, Michael, are tolerated begrudgingly as their father's poignant struggle with the past comes to an impossible end. McGahern's eloquent testimony to the enduring qualities of the human spirit examines the exquisite tension inherent in the challenge of love and fear. Amongst Women - spare, haunting, and sympathetic - is John McGahern's finest novel to date. inventory #14534 ISBN: 0670811823.