Awards
Shortlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize
A New York Times Notable Book for the year 2000
Synopses & Reviews
It is Ireland in the early 1990s. Helen, her mother Lily, and her grandmother Dora have come together, after a decade of estrangement, to tend to Helen's beloved brother, Declan, who is dying of AIDS. Under the crumbling roof of Dora's old house, Declan's two friends join the women as each waits for the end. The six of them, from different generations and with different beliefs, are forced to plumb the shoals of their own histories and to come to terms with each other.
The Blackwater Lightship is a beautifully written, deeply resonant story about three generations of an estranged family reuniting to mourn a tragic, untimely death. In spare, luminous prose, Colm Tóibín explores the nature of love and the complex emotions inside a family at war with itself. His fourth novel is about morals and manners, and the clashes of culture and personality. But most of all, it is a novel about the incomparable capacity of stories to heal the deepest wounds.
Review
"An exceptionally fine piece of writing....It's a measure of Tóibín’s craft that he can sustain his honest, steady gaze on the enigma of life." Globe and Mail
Review
"This is the most astonishing piece of writing, lyrical in its emotion and spare in its construction....Tóibín has crafted an unmissable read." Sunday Herald (U.K.)
Review
"A genuine work of art." Chicago Tribune
Synopsis
Under a crumbling roof in 1990s Ireland, Helen and five other friends and loved ones wait impatiently as her brother, Declan, dies of AIDS. "The Blackwater Lightship" is a novel about morals and manners and the clashes of culture and personality. Yet most of all, it's a novel about stories and their incomparable capacity to heal the deepest wounds.
Synopsis
It is Ireland in the early 1990s. Helen, her mother Lily, and her grandmother Dora have come together, after a decade of estrangement, to tend to Helen's beloved brother, Declan, who is dying of AIDS. Under the crumbling roof of Dora's old house, Declan's two friends join the women as each waits for the end. The six of them, from different generations and with different beliefs, are forced to plumb the shoals of their own histories and to come to terms with each other.
The Blackwater Lightship is a beautifully written, deeply resonant story about three generations of an estranged family reuniting to mourn a tragic, untimely death. In spare, luminous prose, Colm Tóibín explores the nature of love and the complex emotions inside a family at war with itself. His fourth novel is about morals and manners, and the clashes of culture and personality. But most of all, it is a novel about the incomparable capacity of stories to heal the deepest wounds.