The Country Girls: Three Novels and an Epilogue: (The Country Girl; The Lonely Girl; Girls in Their Married Bliss; Epilogue)

by Edna O'Brien, Eimear McBride (Introduction)

Overview

A treasure of world literature back in print, featuring a new introduction by Eimear McBride

This omnibus edition includes the novels The Country Girls, The Lonely Girl, and Girls in Their Married Bliss.

The country girls are Caithleen “Kate” Brady and Bridget “Baba” Brennan, and their story begins in the repressive atmosphere of a small village in the west of Ireland in the years following World War II. Kate is a romantic, looking for love; Baba is a survivor. Setting out to conquer the bright lights of Dublin, they are rewarded with comical miscommunications, furtive liaisons, bad faith, bad luck, bad sex, and compromise; marrying for the wrong reasons, betraying for the wrong reasons, fighting in their separate ways against the overwhelming wave of expectations forced upon "girls" of every era.

The Country Girls Trilogy and Epilogue charts unflinchingly the pattern of women’s lives, from the high spirits of youth to the chill of middle age, from hope to despair, in remarkable prose swinging from blunt and brutal to whimsical and lyrical. It is a saga both painful and hilarious, and remains one of the major accomplishments of Edna O’Brien’s extraordinary career.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374537357
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Series:	FSG Classics
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	560
Sales rank:	50,839
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.70(d)
Lexile:	830L (what's this?)

About the Author

Edna O’Brien is the author of more than twenty-five books, including The Little Red Chairs. Born in County Clare, Ireland, she now lives in London.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“It’s a difficult trip, this coming of age.... O’Brien tells it with love and outrage, compassion and contempt.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Astonishing! Edna O’Brien is supremely talented.”
—The Nation

“A TREASURE . . . POWERFUL. . . INTELLIGENT. . . IRONIC.”
—New York Times Book Review

“HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. . . . O’Brien’s particular appeal is that she can be tender yet merciless, romantic yet grittily sexual. She resides admirably where quality and popular writing intersect.”
—Booklist

“A UNIVERSAL STORY. . . . The spirit of youth, the search for love and the despair from disappointments come through clearly. . . . O’Brien’s sensitivity reaches into the very depths of these young

“MAGNIFICENT, EXUBERANT. . . as vivid as autobiography. . . rich, perfect. . . a strange brew of ecstatic abandon and morning-after sorrow.”
—The Village Voice

“MAGICAL. . . two of the most wonderful heroines in modern fiction. . . impulsively romantic as it is resigned and wise.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

Editorial Reviews

It’s a difficult trip, this coming of age.... O’Brien tells it with love and outrage, compassion and contempt.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Astonishing! Edna O’Brien is supremely talented.”
—The Nation

“A TREASURE . . . POWERFUL. . . INTELLIGENT. . . IRONIC.”
—New York Times Book Review

“HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. . . . O’Brien’s particular appeal is that she can be tender yet merciless, romantic yet grittily sexual. She resides admirably where quality and popular writing intersect.”
—Booklist

“A UNIVERSAL STORY. . . . The spirit of youth, the search for love and the despair from disappointments come through clearly. . . . O’Brien’s sensitivity reaches into the very depths of these young

“MAGNIFICENT, EXUBERANT. . . as vivid as autobiography. . . rich, perfect. . . a strange brew of ecstatic abandon and morning-after sorrow.”
—The Village Voice

“MAGICAL. . . two of the most wonderful heroines in modern fiction. . . impulsively romantic as it is resigned and wise.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

From the Publisher