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The Little Red Chairs: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A fiercely beautiful novel about one woman's struggle to reclaim a life shattered by betrayal from the 2018 winner of the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.
One night, in the dead of winter, a mysterious stranger arrives in the small Irish town of Cloonoila. Broodingly handsome, worldly, and charismatic, Dr. Vladimir Dragan is a poet, a self-proclaimed holistic healer, and a welcome disruption to the monotony of village life. Before long, the beautiful black-haired Fidelma McBride falls under his spell and, defying the shackles of wedlock and convention, turns to him to cure her of her deepest pains.
Then, one morning, the illusion is abruptly shattered. While en route to pay tribute at Yeats's grave, Dr. Vlad is arrested and revealed to be a notorious war criminal and mass murderer. The Cloonoila community is devastated by this revelation, and no one more than Fidelma, who is made to pay for her deviance and desire. In disgrace and utterly alone, she embarks on a journey that will bring both profound hardship and, ultimately, the prospect of redemption.
Moving from Ireland to London and then to The Hague, The Little Red Chairs is Edna O'Brien's first novel in ten years -- a vivid and unflinching exploration of humanity's capacity for evil and artifice as well as the bravest kind of love.
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“O’Brien…has a perfect partner in narrator Juliet Stevenson. Central to Stevenson’s performance are the lovers: Fidelma’s emptiness…echoes in Stevenson’s voice. Doctor Vlad [is] seductively soft and controlled…A powerfully read modern parable. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
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“The great Edna O’Brien has written her masterpiece.”
— Philip Roth, National Book Award–winning author -
“A daring invention set at the bloody crossroads where worlds collide: savage, tender, and true.”
— John Banville, Booker Prize–winning author -
“Slyly terrifying.”
— Vogue -
“O’Brien takes up her signature themes—close-knit communities, love and hate for the homeland, the plight of women, loss and desire, victimhood, romantic love—and casts their compassionate reach far beyond Ireland.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“Provocative, moving, masterly….O’Brien has a way of hypnotizing the reader.”
— Times (London) -
“A remarkable novel…Extraordinary and unsettling.”
— New Yorker -
"[An] extraordinary articulation of the lingering effects of trauma…Surprise and transformation lurk in even the smallest details, the most ordinary moments.”
— Washington Post -
“A spectacular piece of work, massive and ferocious and far-reaching…holding you in its clutches from first page to last.”
— Guardian (London) -
The great Edna O'Brien has written her masterpiece.
— Philip Roth -
The Little Red Chairs is a daring invention set at the bloody crossroads where worlds collide: savage, tender and true.
— John Banville
Awards
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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A New York Times Editor’s Choice
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A 2016 New York Times Book Review Notable Book
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About Edna O’Brien
Edna O’Brien (1930–2024) wrote numerous multiaward–winning books, including the Country Girls trilogy. Awards and prizes include the Irish PEN Lifetime Achievement Award, Writers' Guild of Great Britain, Premier Cavour (Italian), American National Arts Gold Medal, the James Joyce Ulysses Medal 2006, the 2019 David Cohen Prize for lifetime achievement in literature, and the 2018 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. She was an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Born and raised in the west of Ireland, she also lived in London for many years.
About Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Stevenson is a narrator who is recipient of the AudioFile Golden Voice Award. She has won the prestigious Audie Award and numerous Earphones Awards for her narrations. She is a British actress on stage and screen and notably a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has also appeared in popular films such as Bend It Like Beckham and Mona Lisa Smile. She was honored as a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. She received further recognition when she was nominated for several BAFTA Awards, and she earned an Olivier Award for her role in Death and the Maiden.