The Blackwater Lightship
15 June 2023Imprint: Picador
Synopsis
Set in Ireland in the 1990s, Colm Tóibín's The Blackwater Lightship tells the story of the Devereux family, and reveals the intense connection between grandmother, mother and daughter.
Dora Devereux, her daughter Lily and her granddaughter Helen – have come together after years of strife and reached an uneasy truce. Helen’s adored brother Declan is dying. Two friends join him and...
Details
15 June 2023288 pages
9781035034338Imprint: Picador
Reviews
This is the most astonishing piece of writing, lyrical in its emotion and spare in its construction . . . Tóibín has crafted an unmissable read.Sunday Herald
It is in his emotional choreography that Tóibín shows himself to be an exceptional writer. Helen is estranged from both her mother and grandmother . . . Tóibín helps them make peace – and he does it beautifully.Sunday Telegraph
He writes in spare, powerful prose and he is truly perceptive about family relationships which, at times, makes reading his stories incredibly painful. But this is a beautiful novel.Belfast News
We shall be reading and living with The Blackwater Lightship in twenty years.Independent on Sunday
