The River Capture
2019Luke 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.
- Publisher
- Canongate Books
- Publication
- 2020
- Pages
- 272
- ISBN
- 9781786898043
Praise
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.
Profound, elegant, laced with lyricism . . . With all its intertextual richness, The River Capture is a fertile addition to the literary ecosystem.
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.
Intense, engrossing, a novel that constantly subverts the reader's expectation — Mary Costello is a truly startling talent.
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.