Edna O’Brien is one of Ireland’s greatest storytellers and following the popularity of her recent memoir Country Girl several of her older novels are being brought back into print. Night was first published in 1972 and is narrated in a single night by Mary Hooligan, an extraordinary character who has lived and loved far fuller than many of us would want to. From her childhood in Coose, through marriage, a son, numerous lovers and time spent here, there and everywhere, hers is a rich and deeply involving reflection of life. Brief, shocking and riveting.
Edna O'Brien's classic, rocket of a novel, Night, is narrated by one of her most memorably, unhinged characters, Mary Hooligan. Lying on a four-poster bed, unable to sleep, she recounts (mis)adventures, courtships, and sexual encounters of the most transgressive kind, in a narrative voice of blistering originality. Out of print for some time, and now made available in the wake of O'Brien's bestselling memoir, Country Girl, Night is a novel which introduces us to one of the most compelling and garrulous narrators in modern fiction.
Since her debut novel The Country GirlsEdna O'Brien has written over twenty works of fiction along with a biography of James Joyce and Lord Byron. She is the recipient of many awards including the Irish Pen Lifetime Achievement Award, the American National Art's Gold Medal and the Ulysses Medal. Born and raised in the west of Ireland she has lived in London for many years.