Talking about Joseph O'Connor

We were talking about this and that in a little pub tonight, and the subject of novels came up, and then, more specifically, the subject of Joseph O'Connor came up. It turned out only a couple of us at the table knew about this writer. He's very well known in his native Ireland and he also has a famous sister, Sinead.

The first book I read by O'Connor was The Salesman, a stunning novel about the father whose daughter was brutally beaten by a group of men. His own life falling apart, the protagonist searches for one of the criminals with the intent to kill him. Instead he takes his daughter's attacker prisoner, and these two men develop a complex and strange relationship.

The other book by O'Connor that stands out in my mind is Star of the Sea. ""Star of the Sea" is the ironic name of a leaking, creaking hulk of a ship that is making its last crossing of the Atlantic, with a handful of first-class passengers and a belly full of the dregs of Europe, destitute Irish people fleeing the horrors of famine. Joseph O'Connor's masterful novel of the same name is the story of that fateful crossing and the intertwined lives of the passengers.". This epic historical who-dunnit is high on my list of recommended books.

Mr. O'Connor has a new novel coming out: Redemption falls. Due May 2007.1865: eighteen years after the famine ship Star of the Sea docked in New York, the daughter of two of the passengers sets off across civil war-ravaged America. I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into that one too.