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The River Capture

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The River Capture

By: Mary Costello
Narrated by: Jean-Paul Van Cauwelaert
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A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE IRISH TIMES and IRISH INDEPENDENT

Shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards
Shortlisted for Novel of the Year, Dalkey Literary Awards
Shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award

Luke O’Brien has left Dublin to live a quiet life on his family land on the bend of the River Sullane. Alone in his big house, he longs for a return to his family's heyday and turns to books for solace.

One morning a young woman arrives at his door and enters his life with profound consequences. Her presence presents him and his family with an almost impossible dilemma.

In a novel that pays glorious homage to Joyce, The River Capture tells of one man's descent into near madness, and the possibility of rescue. This is a novel about love, loyalty and the raging forces of nature. More than anything, it is a book about the life of the mind and the redemptive powers of art.

 Contemporary Fiction Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature
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Critic Reviews

"One of the most surprising and original novels of 2019 . . . Exceptional . . . This is a sensory book that draws on the body to feed the mind"
"Elegantly written . . . Exquisite and impressionistic prose"
"A self-confessed homage to James Joyce . . . Costello writes insightfully"
"Luminous . . . Unexpected . . . An audacious act of literary ventriloquism and one that Costello pulls off astonishingly successfully . . . Joyce devotees will discover much to enjoy in this clever homage, while fans of contemporary Irish literature will find a subtle, slightly melancholy, engrossing read" (Melissa Harrison)
"The River Capture is breathtaking. It is profound in the most bruising way; elegant, and then thrillingly savage; expansive, but masterfully precise, and full of sentences that made me choke on jealous rage. Costello is in a different class altogether" (LISA McINERNEY)
"Astonishingly bittersweet and beautiful, The River Capture is a quiet, important, hypnotic book about absolutely everything. It is as near perfect as it is possible for a novel to be" (SARA BAUME)
"A hypnotic read revealing how the ebb and flow of memory, family loyalty and love can disrupt the current of a life"
"Powerful . . . The River Capture reminds us that everything is connected, that we are, as humans, not separate from the teeming world of nature around us . . . Lyrical"
"Intense, engrossing, a novel that constantly subverts the reader’s expectation – Mary Costello is a truly startling talent" (KEVIN BARRY)
"The most beautiful new novel I read this year. A love letter to Joyce and Ulysses" (John Self)
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