'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN 'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL 'A writer of genius' WALL STREET JOURNAL In the early 1900s, Easter lives with her Aunt Brenda, her cousins Evelyn and Basil, and their Great-Aunt Dicksie in an imposing country house, Puppetstown which casts a spell over their childhood. Here they spend carefree days taunting the peacocks in Aunt Dicksie's garden, shooting snipe and woodcock, hunting, and playing with Patsy, the boot boy. But the house and its inhabitants are not immune to the 'little, bitter, forgotten war in Ireland' and when it finally touches their lives all flee to England. All except Aunt Dicksie who refuses to surrender Puppetstown's magic. She stays on with Patsy, living in a corner of the deserted house while in England the cousins are groomed for Society. But for two of them those wild, lost Puppetstown years cannot be forgotten.

This is the perfect overview of the Irish novel from the seventeenth century to the present day.

This book attests to the unique development of modernism in Ireland - driven by political as well as artistic concerns.

"This book also looks at how authors have persistently used the bildungsroman to complicate and challenge the idealization of the family, exposing the divorce ban as symptomatic of an unrealistic notion of domestic inviolability. This study concludes with a discussion of the future of the bildungsroman in a country that has transcended many of its formative crises. This chapter considers Doyle's A Star Called Henry as a text that inaugurates a new phase in Irish coming-of-age narratives in which many of the problems of Irish life, formerly treated so earnestly and tragically, can be a source of play and humor." "By looking at a comprehensive range of novels by writers like Sean O'Faolain, Elizabeth Bowen, Edna O'Brien, and William Trevor, as well as lesser known figures like Eimar O'Duffy, Francis MacManus, and Mary Morrissy, Blighted Beginnings traces the evolving concerns of Irish writers as they pushed for a greater accommodation of individual freedoms and aspirations."--BOOK JACKET.

While the Irish Literary Revival began around 1885 and ended somewhere between 1925 and 1940, the Irish Renaissance has continued to the present day and shows no sign of abating. The period has produced some of the most important and influential figures in Irish literature, some of whom are counted among the world's greatest authors. The Revival saw a reestablishment of Ireland's literary connections with its Celtic heritage, and writers such as William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory drew heavily on the myths and legends of the past. James Joyce boldly reshaped the novel and wrote short fiction of enduring value. Contemporary Irish writers continue to be leading figures and include such authors as Brian Frigl, Seamus Heaney, and Eavan Boland. Included in this reference book are alphabetically arranged entries for more than 70 modern Irish writers, including Samuel Beckett, William Trevor, Patrick Kavanagh, Medbh McGuckian, Sean O'Casey, J. M. Synge, and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill. Entries are written by expert contributors and reflect a broad range of perspectives. Each entry contains a brief biography that summarizes the author's career, a discussion of major works and themes, an overview of the author's critical reception, and a bibliography of primary and secondary works. An introductory essay reviews the large and growing body of scholarship on modern Irish literature, while an extensive bibliography concludes the volume.