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On Canaan's Side

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( 5,942 ratings, 835 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry, the novel follows the poignant life story of Lilly Bere, an Irish woman who navigates the challenges and heartbreaks of the 20th century over a span of seven decades. The narrative intertwines personal trauma with historical events, capturing her resilient spirit as she seeks solace and understanding in a foreign land after emigrating from Ireland to the United States. The book delves into themes of memory, loss, and survival, painting a vivid portrait of a life marked by both sorrow and hope.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're drawn to deeply emotional stories infused with themes of memory and loss, tracing a life marked by upheaval and resilience. The novel offers rich, lyrical prose, showing how history, identity, and personal experiences intertwine. It could appeal to you if you're interested in narratives that explore the endurance of the human spirit across decades.

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From the bestselling Costa Prize-winning author of The Secret Scripture a heartbreaking novel spanning a lifetime.

On Canaan's Side, from Sebastian Barry, the bestselling Costa Prize-winning author of The Secret Scripture, is a heartbreaking novel spanning a lifetime.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

'As they used to say in Ireland, the devil only comes into good things.'

Narrated by Lilly Bere, On Canaan's Side opens as she mourns the loss of her grandson, Bill. The story then goes back to the moment she was forced to flee Dublin, at the end of the First World War, and follows her life through into the new world of America, a world filled with both hope and danger. At once epic and intimate, Lilly's narrative unfurls as she tries to make sense of the sorrows and troubles of her life and of the people whose lives she has touched.

Spanning nearly seven decades, it is a novel of memory, war, family-ties and love, which once again displays Sebastian Barry's exquisite prose and gift for storytelling.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry is widely praised for its lyrical prose and poignant storytelling. Reviewers commend the novel's ability to weave a tale of personal loss and historical narrative with depth and compassion. The character development, particularly of its protagonist Lilly, is highlighted as deeply moving, capturing the essence of an immigrant's struggles across different decades. The book is appreciated for its rich emotional landscape and the way it addresses themes of memory, trauma, and resilience.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780571226542

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 April 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Faber & Faber

Edition: Main

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 16.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 212g

Pages: 272

About the Author

Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. His plays include The Steward of Christendom and The Pride of Parnell Street and his novels include The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, Annie Dunne, A Long Long Way and The Secret Scripture. A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Dublin International Impac Prize, and was the Dublin: One City One Book for 2007. The Secret Scripture won the Costa Book of the Year award, the Irish Book Awards Best Novel, the Independent Booksellers Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in Wicklow with his wife and three children.

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