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The Giant, O'Brien

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The Giant, O'Brien

By: Hilary Mantel
Narrated by: Patrick Moy
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About this listen

Charles O’Brien, Irish bard and giant: The cynical are moved by his flights of romance; the craven stirred by his tales of epic deeds. The Surprising Irish Giant may be the sensation of the season but only his compatriots seem to attend to his mythic powers of invention. John Hunter, celebrated surgeon and anatomist, buys dead men from the gallows and babies’ corpses by the inch. Where is a man as unique as The Giant to hide his bones when he is yet alive?

©1998 Hilary Mantel (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd Dark Humour Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Medical Comedy

Critic Reviews

"From the two-time Man Booker winner, The Giant, O’ Brien is an unforgettable novel; lyrical, shocking and spliced with black comedy"
"A novelist of remarkable diversity…She writes with wit, compassion and great elegance. Her books never fail to surprise, nor to delight: in this one she is at her very best - so far." ( Independent on Sunday)
"Mantel can out-write most writers of her generation, male and female. What she has done here is disturbing, grievous and extraordinary." ( Sunday Times)
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A race of Irish giants is part of Celtic mythology. Hilary Mantel makes the legend real with a captivating if sad story of one such giant. His bones linger, a reminder if it were needed of the inhumanity that stalks us. So very sad that the vision of this extraordinary writer is lost at too young an age for death.

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