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After her father's death in exile, Antigone returns to Thebes determined to set the record straight and restore her father's reputation. Tracing the histories of Oedipus and his parents Laius and Jocasta, as well as the peripheral characters of the plays who had a central role in him fulfilling his destiny, Antigone's 'biography' causes us to re-evaluate the extent to which any of us can be entirely blamed for the actions by which we will be defined. Ending with Antigone making a conscious choice to reclaim her brother's corpse from the battlefield, an act of defiance which will guarantee her own death, the book ultimately meditates on the illusion of free will, and the warning that context is everything, I, ANTIGONE will be a major contribution to the reclaimed classics.
'Brilliant . . . I couldn't stop reading' Jo Spain 'Exceptional . . . Deeply chilling' Jane Casey ______________ Des is a good husband, a good father - a good man. He encourages his wife's artistic endeavours, reads bedtime stories to his children every night, and holds down a well-paid job. But appearances can be deceptive. His wife seems to be forgetting that her art is for his eyes only. Rumours at work are threatening his reputation as a devoted family man. And his kids don't seem to need him as much as they once did. Des is afraid. Afraid of the world encroaching on his home. Afraid of past mistakes catching up with him. So afraid of losing control over his family that he is contemplati...
THE SIEGE OF DERRY is one of the key flash points in the troubled history of Ireland and Britain. In 1688 William of Orange had claimed the English throne, forcing the catholic James II to flee to Ireland. From there he hoped to mount his comeback. In December of that year James' troops attempted to take over the protestant city of Derry. To the now-famous cry of 'No Surrender' the apprentice boys closed the city gates to James' army and the 105-day siege begun. The besiegers effectively used cannon and mortar to shell the defenders - with terrifying results - and conditions became desperate as the city began to run out of food. Carlo Gebler's book thrillingly describes both the events leading up to the siege and the heroic struggles within and outside Derry as the five-month battle waged.
Diving under the sea, gasping over bewitched butter, or flying on a eagle's back to land on the moon ... Three magical tales of good and evil. Which is best? Caught in a first-class compartment, Archie, the kitchen boy on the Dublin-Achill railway, must decide a winner. A simple choice? Not all, because the sinister Mr. Cink wants to be the champion -- at any cost.
How much would you sacrifice to get what you most wanted in the world? Your friends? Everything you have? Could a dream be worth all that?
The story spans nearly a hundred years. In Carlo Gebler's early childhood, his relationship with his father, Ernest, was a disaster. A man of the left, Ernest's politics had been 'hammered out in the nineteen thirties'. His early life as the son of a Jewish immigrant was spent working as a rat catcher in a cinema, snatching moments alone to educate himself, but the one with the literary talent was his second wife, Edna O'Brien - Gebler's mother - who left after Ernest claimed authorship of her work. As his father saw it, Carlo and his brother Sasha were over-fed members of the bourgeoisie, and toys and sweets were banned from their lonely childhood, filled with memories of abuse and neglect. Years later, on hearing his estranged father was now senile, Gebler made the journey to southern Ireland and through his past, through diaries that confirmed Ernest's hatred for his sons, yet also revealed the abuse Ernest in turn suffered as a young man, a life of extreme poverty and the abandonment of his first wife. This not a story that ends in hate; by the time Carlo Gebler reached their final years together, he no longer felt the anger that had dogged their relationship.
Nineteenth-century Ireland was awash with secret societies, principally rural, and principally Catholic. Their function was to keep tenants on the land as they had always leased. The landlords that evicted the old tenants, and the 'land grabbers' (often Catholic) who took the new leases, were regarded as enemies. The most feared of the societies was the group known as the Ribbonmen, who enforced their ideals with brutal and horrendous practices - they castrated, tarred and feathered and even skinned their victims alive. In HOW TO MURDER A MAN, Carlo Gebler tells of a small rural community in County Monaghan, and the attempts to murder the landlord there. As in Gebler's highly acclaimed previous novel, THE CURE, it is inspired by a true story. His new novel is a fascinating glimpse of an untold part of Irish history, and traces the connections between these societies and the modern para-military groups.
A historical novel of witchcraft, superstition and anarchy, based on a true story which took place in Co. Tipperary, Ireland.
Carlo Gébler has re-imagined twenty-eight of the original stories of the Decameron, drawing out the essence of the tales in order to let their true genius and wit shine. This is a text for troubled times, which will continue to resonate and provide solace for years, if not decades to come.
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