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Down By The River
Brief Description
The road silent, somnolent yet with a speech of its own, speaking back to them, father and child, through trappings of sun and fretted verdure, speaking of the old mutinies and a fresh crime mounting in the blood. The local community is shocked when a young...
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Down By The River
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See moreA young pregnant girl, raped by her father, is caught between competing political, legal and religious factions.
A young pregnant girl, raped by her father, is caught between competing political, legal and religious factions.
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Description
The road silent, somnolent yet with a speech of its own, speaking back to them, father and child, through trappings of sun and fretted verdure, speaking of the old mutinies and a fresh crime mounting in the blood.
The local community is shocked when a young teenager, Mary, attempts to get an illegal abortion, especially when they discover that she has been raped by her father. O'Brien charts Mary's emotional and psychological trauma, as her story is dragged first into the public realm and then into the law courts, with her power of choice usurped by militant factions on all sides.
A haunting novel based on real events.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780571397532
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 12 February 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Edition: Main
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 336
Collections
About the Author
Edna O'Brien wrote more than twenty celebrated works of fiction, including her classic The Country Girls trilogy, as well as plays and four works of non-fiction, which have been translated into over thirty languages. Her final novel Girl was awarded the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year in 2020. She was the recipient of many honours, including the Irish PEN Lifetime Achievement Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, and the David Cohen Prize for Literature, as well as being appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017. In 2021, O'Brien was also named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Born and raised in the west of Ireland, she lived in London for many years before her death in July 2024.
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