Product Description

Ireland's most brilliant storyteller' Sunday Independent

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17351 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Tragedy is a word too often used. Nevertheless, in Star of the Sea Joseph O'Connor manages to achieve a real sense of the tragic, as personal dramas of the most distressing kind play themselves out against the background of the Irish potato famine and the almost equal nightmare of the mass emigration that it caused. As passengers die of starvation and disease in steerage, a drama of adultery, inadvertent incest and inherited disease plays itself out in first class. O'Connor raises, and does not attempt definitively to answer, real questions about responsibility and choice.

Bankrupt aristocrat Meredith is emigrating, pursued by the hatred of his tenants and the memory of his mad-hero father. His children's nurse, Mary, has memories of lost love to torment her, as well as of the husband and child who died of hunger. And the ballad singer Mulvey has both his monstrous past and the certain promise that he will be tortured to death by the Liable Men should he not kill Meredith. This is a kaleidoscopic novel, whose events are seen in many idioms, from many points of view--it is a rich novel that knows that there are limits to the sense that can be made of history. --Roz Kaveney

Waterstone's Books Quarterly
'A modern-day Irish masterpiece'

Spectator
‘This is a tremendous book; affecting, intelligent, ironic, humane and utterly convincing. It is also extremely funny.’

Customer Reviews

but it's not funny
a great book ---- a great read ---- I loved it ---- but 2 reviews on the cover say that it's 'funny' (one says 'hilarious') All I can say is that the Irish must have a very strange sense of humour --- there were moments of irony, but most of the story is tragic and gloomy ---- however it's worth the effort ---- I'll definitely read it again ---but I don't think it'll make me laugh.

A modern classic
I loved this book! I was not expecting this book to be as good as the reviews but was surprised. The characters were superb, each one jumping out of the page. The writing flowed beautifully throughout the book. There are not many boooks that I would read again, but Star of the Sea is the exception to that rule.

A very well built story
I did really enjoy the reading of this book. A captivating story set back at the time of the Great Famine, one of the darkests periods in Irish history. Very well defined characters and a plot that entangles you until the end. Maybe a few reduntant pages, from time to time, but overall a book I strongly recommend.