The Black Soul

by Liam O'Flaherty

Overview

The sea roars dismally round the shores of Inverara. A Stranger takes a room on the island. Here lives a couple whose married years have been joyless, until the presence of the Stranger unleashes their passions...

For as spring softens the wild beauty of Inverara, the Stranger becomes conscious of the dark-haired Mary - how summer makes her shiver with life. He is the first man she has ever loved, and she thrills with sexual awakening.

But with autumn comes danger. Peasants mutter superstition against Mary; Red John laughs at nothing, there's murder in his eyes; and a madman's yell hurls the Stranger back to sanity . . . .

Intense, compelling, beautifully descriptive - as Wuthering Heights is to the Yorkshire moors, so The Black Soul is to the Aran Islands.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448205585
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	09/28/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Liam O'Flaherty aka Liam Ó Flaithearta (1896-1984) was a significant Irish novelist and short story writer and a major figure in the Irish literary renaissance. O'Flaherty was the son of Maidhc Ó Flaithearta and Maggie Ganley of Gort na gCapall. In 1908, at the age of twelve, he went to Rockwell College. This was followed by enrollments at Holy Cross and University College, Dublin. He did not attend the first two schools for long. He had intended joining the priesthood, but in 1917 he left school and joined the Irish Guards under the name 'Bill Ganly'. He served on the Western Front, where he was injured, and it is possible that the shell shock he suffered may have been responsible for the mental illness which became apparent in 1933.

After the war O'Flaherty left Ireland and moved to the United States, where he lived in Hollywood for a short time. The well-known director John Ford, a cousin, later turned Ó Flaithearta's novel, The Informer, into a film. Many of his works have the common theme of nature and Ireland. He was a distinguished short story writer, and some his best work in that genre was in Irish. In 1923, O'Flaherty published his first novel, Thy Neighbour's Wife, thought to be one of his best. In 1935, his novel The Informer (for which he had been awarded the 1925 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction) was made into a film by John Ford. Over the next couple of years he published other novels and short stories. In 1933 he suffered from the first of two mental breakdowns.

He travelled in the United States and Europe, and the letters he wrote while travelling have now been published. He had a love of French and Russian culture, and this may have been part of the attraction he felt towards communism. Before his death, however, he left the Communist Party and returned to the Roman Catholic faith.
Liam O'Flaherty (also known as Liam Ó Flaithearta) was born in 1896 in the small village of Gort na gCapall, on one of the Aran Islands in Galway. In 1908, at the age of twelve, he went to Rockwell College, and then went on to study at Holy Cross and University College, Dublin - he did not attend the first two schools for long.

O'Flaherty initially intended to join the priesthood, but in 1917 he left school to join the Irish Guards, enlisting under the name 'Bill Ganly'. He was injured on the Western Front, and some believe that shell shock may have been responsible for his mental illness, which became apparent when he suffered the first of two mental breakdowns in 1933.

After the war O'Flaherty left Ireland and moved to the United States, where he lived in Hollywood for a short time. He also travelled throughout the United States and Europe, and the letters he wrote during his wanderings were later published. Many of O'Flaherty's works of fiction have common themes of nature and Ireland; some his best short stories were written in Irish.In 1923, O'Flaherty published his first novel, Thy Neighbour's Wife, thought to be one of his best. In 1935, his novel The Informer (for which he had been awarded the 1925 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction) was made into a film by the well-known director John Ford, a cousin of O'Flaherty.

Over the next couple of years he published other novels and short stories, while struggling with mental illness and breakdowns. He died in Dublin in 1984, aged 88.

Editorial Reviews

Published in 1924 and 1978, respectively, this duo span O'Flaherty's career. They portray the flowering of passion and the hunger for land in small Irish communities.

Library Journal