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Ronan Bennett
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The Catastrophistby Ronan BennettISBN 0747260338 (0-7472-6033-8)
Softcover, Headline Book Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Catastrophist'Book summary:Perhaps it takes a writer with Ronan Bennett's peculiar personal history to write so compelling a novel about the place where politics and art intersect. By the time he was 23, Bennett, an Irish Catholic from Northern Ireland, had already spent five years in and out of various jails, charged with politically motivated crimes he'd never committed. He then traded in prison walls for the rarified halls of academia, studying for a Ph.D. in history before embarking on a new career as a fiction writer. Though at first The Catastrophist, set in the Congo during its bid for independence from Belgium, may seem a far cry from Belfast in the '70s, Bennett uses his hard-won wisdom to examine the role of the artist in a political conflict.
James Gillespie, a disillusioned Irish historian turned novelist, has arrived in the Congo on the eve of independence, hoping to reunite with his Italian lover, Ines. The two had once been passionately involved in Europe, but Ines's job as a journalist took her to the Congo, where her Communist leanings have kept her. Ines is an enthusiastic supporter of Patrice Lumumba, and her journalism reflects her bias. Gillespie, on the other hand, has a novelist's broader view, and his ability to see all facets of the issue simultaneously keeps him from choosing sides and drives a wedge between him and Ines. As she becomes more involved with Lumumba and his followers, he is befriended by an American CIA agent whom Ines suspects of being an enemy. When the political situation heats up, she puts herself increasingly in harm's way until, at last, Gillespie must put his own life on the line to save hers. Bennett does a stellar job of recreating the complicated web of political intrigue and shifting alliances at play in the Congo in 1959, but he really shines when exploring how personal relationships unravel under the strain of ideology. As Ines tells Gillespie shortly before she leaves him, his ability to see all points of view is a privilege few people can afford: "When you are on history's losing side, when you are poor and cursed to eat bread, to accept your enemy's point of view is to accept starvation and slavery." The Catastrophist is a love story, a historical novel, a troubling reflection on Africa's ongoing political upheaval. --Alix Wilber [via]
More editions of The Catastrophist:
- The Catastrophist : A Novel: ISBN 0684870363 (0-684-87036-3)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster - The Catastrophist: ISBN 0747273103 (0-7472-7310-3)
Softcover, Review - The Catastrophist: ISBN 0684863340 (0-684-86334-0)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster - The Catastrophist: ISBN 0743213378 (0-7432-1337-8)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster - The Catastrophist: ISBN 074722210X (0-7472-2210-X)
Hardcover, Review - The Catastrophist: ISBN 0747260338 (0-7472-6033-8)
Softcover, Headline Book Publishing
- The Catastrophist : A Novel: ISBN 0684870363 (0-684-87036-3)
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Discoverer of the Human Heart-William Harvey 1578-1657by Ronan BennettISBN 0571208304 (0-571-20830-4)
Softcover, Short Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Discoverer of the Human Heart-William Harvey 1578-1657'Book summary:The Renaissance physician William Harvey was the first to demonstrate conclusively that the heart acted as a pump, circulating blood through the arteries and veins. As this book shows, this entailed a fundamental shift in the way people viewed the world and their place in it. [via]
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Havoc, In Its Third Yearby Ronan BennettISBN 0743258576 (0-7432-5857-6)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Havoc, In Its Third Year'Book summary:England in the 1630s: turbulent times, with fears of foreign invasion and Catholic conspiracies rife. John Brigge, a farmer and coroner, is respected in his North Country community, but harbours a dangerous secret: he is also a Catholic. When he is called to adjudicate on the murder of a new-born child, Brigge finds himself drawn into matters he would rather avoid. Katherine Shay, an Irishwoman, is accused of killing her baby, and the town's powerful Puritan faction demands her immediate death. Brigge suspects their haste has little to do with a quest for justice. What are they hiding? And does he really want to know? [via]
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Overthrown by Strangersby Ronan BennettISBN 0747268207 (0-7472-6820-7)
Softcover, Headline Book Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Overthrown by Strangers'Book summary:'We can't save ourselves,' Agustin tells Quinn and Judy, 'only each other'. Pursued through Mexico and Guatemala by the sinister New Era Mission, three solitary fugitives are desperate not just to escape but to regain control of lives that have come apart. As the Mission closes in, they must overcome suspicions and differences and rediscover allegiances they have abandoned. It is their only chance for survival. [via]
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Second Prisonby Ronan BennettISBN 0747268193 (0-7472-6819-3)
Softcover, Headline Book Publishing
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Stolen Years: Before and after Guildfordby Hill, Paul, Jr., Ronan BennettISBN 0552137669 (0-552-13766-9)
Softcover, Glass Books Pty, Limited
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Stolen Years: Before and after Guildfordby Paul Hill, Ronan BennettISBN 0385401256 (0-385-40125-6)
Hardcover, Transworld Publishers Limited
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