Told with lyrical prose, John Banville's Birchwood is the elegiac story of the aristocratic decline of an eccentric family riddled with dark secrets. Once the big house on an Irish estate, Birchwood has turned into a baroque madhouse for its ruined inhabitants. One disaster succeeds another, until young Gabriel Godkin runs away to join a travelling circus and look for his long-lost twin sister. Soon he discovers that famine and unrest stalk the countryside, and Ireland is ruined too.
John Banville
John Banville is an Irish writer known for his precise prose, introspective narratives, and exploration of themes such as memory, identity, and loss. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Man Booker Prize for his novel "The Sea" in 2005. Banville often blurs the lines between reality and fiction, creating intricate and complex characters that grapple with the complexities of human experience. His writing is marked by its lyrical beauty and intellectual depth, making him a prominent figure in contemporary literature.
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