For all you avid book readers who made a New Year’s resolution to read more challenging novels, here is the answer: Lemuria’s book club which meets at noon on the first Thursday of each month. So, next Thursday, February 2, we will meet at our dot.com building, just outside of Broadstreet Bakery’s north side door, just across the parking lot.
“Drawing of Molly Allgood (Maire O’Neill) by Ben Bay, in the title role of Deirdre of the Sorrows by J.M. Synge, circa 1910. From the collection of the National Library of Ireland.”
We will be discussing Irishman Joseph O’Connor’s novel Ghost Light. This thought provoking novel opens in the early 1900s in Dublin. The reader meets W. B. Yeats who is writing a play with inspiration from popular playwright John Synge, a “real” playwright who was the author of Playboy of the Western World and Tinker’s Wedding. Synge becomes romantically involved with Molly Allgood, who is a much younger strong willed, talented actress who often stars in his plays. Their love affair is played out in the novel so very beautifully. (Author Joseph O’Connor grew up in Dublin “watching” the house on the hill where playwright John Synge wrote his plays.)
The reader is then propelled forward to 1950s London where Molly reflects on her lost love John Synge who died an early death. Through a series of flashbacks, the reader gets to experience Molly’s tumultuous life during and after Synge’s death. Her love memories, which float from Dublin to London to New York, keep her alive even though her depleted life becomes horribly sad. Still, the power of the love story grows as the reader turns each page, becoming more and more involved in this novel.
As the author of Redemption Falls, and the world wide sensation Star of the Sea, Joseph O’Connor and his incredible talent as a writer rank at the top of my most admired present day authors. I heard him read at Lemuria from Redemption Falls in 2007, and I also heard him read last year from Ghost Light. His readings were both mesmerizing and energizing. It would be hard to find another author who reads his own work with such passion and love. The Irish accent does not hurt either!
Come join us when we discuss Ghost Light next Thursday. If you want more information about our book club, please email me at: nan@lemuriabooks.com. Click here to see a full listing of everything our book club has read since 2007. Come join us for challenging discussions each month.
See a listing of all of Joseph O’Connor’s books here.
Enjoy a guest post by Joseph O’Connor here.
-Nan
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