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Product Identifiers
PublisherHarperCollins
ISBN-100156029669
ISBN-139780156029667
eBay Product ID (ePID)4422133
Product Key Features
Book TitleStar of the Sea
Number of Pages432 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicGeneral, Thrillers / Historical, Romance / Historical / Ancient World, Mystery & Detective / General, Historical
Publication Year2004
GenreFiction
AuthorJoseph O'connor
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height1.1 in
Item Weight13.5 Oz
Item Length8 in
Item Width5.3 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2003-001984
ReviewsPRAISE FOR STAR OF THE SEA "A brave and artful novel."--THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW "In Star of the Sea, O'Connor has written not only an epic novel, but also a very important one. By deconstructing the most defining moment of Irish history, and breaking down its essential components, he has given a face and a voice to the million who died." --IRISH ECHO "Along the way O'Connor even brings in a thoroughly gripping murder mystery that is all the more affecting for the depth he gives his characters. They add up to a powerfully symbolic microcosm of the time. Bottom Line: Shining Star."--PEOPLE, PRAISE FOR JOSEPH O'CONNOR "Joseph O'Connor has a great eye for the absurd in common things, a great ear for the comic in ordinary speech. His writing is terrific."--Roddy Doyle PRAISE FOR THE SALESMAN "Powerful . . . freewheeling and supple, switching between the comic, the candid, and the profane."--The New York Times Book Review "Gripping . . . O'Connor's dialogue is by turns bristling and bleak, tender and funny, and his characters are free of stereotypes."--The Wall Street Journal, PRAISE FOR JOSEPH O'CONNOR "Joseph O'Connor has a great eye for the absurd in common things, a great ear for the comic in ordinary speech. His writing is terrific."--Roddy Doyle PRAISE FOR THE SALESMAN "Powerful . . . freewheeling and supple, switching between the comic, the candid, and the profane."-- The New York Times Book Review "Gripping . . . O'Connor's dialogue is by turns bristling and bleak, tender and funny, and his characters are free of stereotypes."-- The Wall Street Journal, First published in the U.K. and shortlisted for Irish Novel of the Year, this brooding new historical fiction by novelist, playwright and critic O'Connor (Cowboys and Indians) chronicles the mayhem aboard Star of the Sea, a leaky old sailing ship crossing from Ireland to New York during the bitter winter of 1847, its steerage crammed to the bulkheads with diseased and starving refugees from the Irish potato famine. The novel takes the form of a personal account written by passenger G. Grantley Dixon, a New York Times reporter who intersperses his narrative with reportage and interviews as he describes the intrigue that unfolds during the 26-day journey. There's Pius Mulvey, "a sticklike limping man from Connemara" known to the passengers as "the monster" or "the ghost," who shuffles menacingly around the ship and is the subject of many a rumor. There's Earl David Merridith of Kingscourt, one of the few passengers in first class, who has evicted thousands of his tenants for nonpayment of rent, dooming them and their families to almost certain death by starvation. Also aboard is the young widow, Mary Duane, a nanny for the Kingscourt children who shares a history of intimacies with both Kingscourt and Mulvey. And there is, of course, Kingscourt's wife, with whom Dixon is having an ill-advised affair. One of these passengers is on a mission to commit murder, and another is the fated victim. Through flashbacks, the complicated narrative paints a vivid picture of the rigors of life in Ireland in the mid-19th century. The engrossing, well-structured tale will hold historical fiction fans rapt., PRAISE FOR JOSEPH O'CONNOR "Joseph O'Connor has a great eye for the absurd in common things, a great ear for the comic in ordinary speech. His writing is terrific."--Roddy Doyle PRAISE FOR THE SALESMAN "Powerful . . . freewheeling and supple, switching between the comic, the candid, and the profane."--The New York Times Book Review "Gripping . . . O'Connor's dialogue is by turns bristling and bleak, tender and funny, and his characters are free of stereotypes."--The Wall Street Journal --, By deconstructing the most defining moment of Irish history, and breaking down its essential components, he has given a face and a voice to the million who died., Joseph O'Connor's impressive historical novel, Star of the Sea, examines the unsettled personal tragedies among a group of interrelated characters and their difficulties in disregarding the past. Lord Merridith and his family board the titular ship in 1847, bound for New York, leaving behind an Ireland devastated by famine and strife. The family's beautiful nanny, Mary Duane, is with them, having fled a life of poverty, prostitution, and extreme tragedy. Another passenger, American journalist Grantley Dixon, is lured to America by business and his thinly veiled affair with Lady Merridith. Mary Duane discovers that Pius Mulvey, her former fiancé and the brother of her deceased husband, is among the overcrowded group of disease-ridden steerage passengers. A renowned thief and murderer, Mulvey abandoned Duane, only to return and sabotage her life in Ireland. Despised by his countrymen, Mulvey has been ordered by a group of steerage thugs to assassinate the demonized Merridith or face his own death.Conflict is inevitable, but O'Connor is more interested in the complexity of history and relationships and how each makes reinvention and resolution impossible. O'Connor presents the story as a work of journalism written by Dixon, composed in the era's tabloid style, even including passages from the captain's register and crew interviews. These devices lend the work a sense of authenticity, reinforced by the author's intimate knowledge of the period and his evocative, realistic prose: "At night one sensed the ship as absurdly out of its element, a creaking, leaking, incompetent concoction of oak and pitch and nails and faith, bobbing on a wilderness of viciously black water which could explode at the slightest provocation." O'Connor conveys a sense of immediacy and dimension in his ambitious story, providing this uncertain voyage with an ultimate sense of direction. --Ross Doll, PRAISE FOR STAR OF THE SEA "A brave and artful novel."-THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW "In Star of the Sea, O'Connor has written not only an epic novel, but also a very important one. By deconstructing the most defining moment of Irish history, and breaking down its essential components, he has given a face and a voice to the million who died." -IRISH ECHO "Along the way O'Connor even brings in a thoroughly gripping murder mystery that is all the more affecting for the depth he gives his characters. They add up to a powerfully symbolic microcosm of the time. Bottom Line: Shining Star."-PEOPLE
Grade FromNinth Grade
Grade ToTwelfth Grade
SynopsisAward-winning author Joseph O'Connor's Star of the Sea is a New York Times Notable Book and "thoroughly gripping" (People) historical mystery.In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by famine and injustice, the Star of the Sea sets sail for New York. On board are hundreds of refugees, some optimistic, many more desperate. Among them are a maid with a devastating secret, the bankrupt Lord Merridith, his wife and children, and a killer stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution.This journey will see many lives end, others begin anew. Passionate loves are tenderly recalled, shirked responsibilities regretted too late, and profound relationships shockingly revealed. In this spellbinding tale of tragedy and mercy, love and healing, the farther the ship sails toward the Promised Land, the more her passengers seem moored to a past that will never let them go. As urgently contemporary as it is historical, this exciting and compassionate novel builds with the pace of a thriller to a stunning conclusion., Joseph O'Connor's Star of the Sea is a New York Times Notable Book and "thoroughly gripping" (People) historical mystery., Award-winning author Joseph O'Connor's Star of the Sea is a New York Times Notable Book and "thoroughly gripping" (People) historical mystery. In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by famine and injustice, the Star of the Sea sets sail for New York. On board are hundreds of refugees, some optimistic, many more desperate. Among them are a maid with a devastating secret, the bankrupt Lord Merridith, his wife and children, and a killer stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution. This journey will see many lives end, others begin anew. Passionate loves are tenderly recalled, shirked responsibilities regretted too late, and profound relationships shockingly revealed. In this spellbinding tale of tragedy and mercy, love and healing, the farther the ship sails toward the Promised Land, the more her passengers seem moored to a past that will never let them go. As urgently contemporary as it is historical, this exciting and compassionate novel builds with the pace of a thriller to a stunning conclusion., In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by famine and injustice, the Star of the Sea sets sail for NewYork. On board are hundreds of refugees, some optimistic, many more desperate. Among them are a maid with a devastating secret, the bankrupt Lord Merridith, his wife and children, and a killer stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution. This journey will see many lives end, others begin anew. Passionate loves are tenderly recalled, shirked responsibilities regretted too late, and profound relationships shockingly revealed. In this spellbinding tale of tragedy and mercy, love and healing, the farther the ship sails toward the Promised Land, the more her passengers seem moored to a past that will never let them go. As urgently contemporary as it is historical, this exciting and compassionate novel builds with the pace of a thriller to a stunning conclusion.
LC Classification NumberPR6065.C558S73
Bewertungen und Rezensionen
Relevanteste Rezensionen
- 27. Apr. 2021
Sensational record of Irishmen fleeing the famine.
A well-written book about tensions on the high seas caused by the passengers' lives in Ireland. I skipped the gory parts and I know enough about the Irish famine to skip those paragraphs, too.Bestätigter Kauf: JaArtikelzustand: Gebraucht
- 06. Nov. 2019
A compelling read
The story is compelling. This is a classic tale, which is a great addition for anyone's library. The paperback edition is of high quality.Bestätigter Kauf: JaArtikelzustand: Gebraucht
- 15. Jan. 2023
An incredible book
A superb novel.Bestätigter Kauf: JaArtikelzustand: Neu
