{"product_id":"life-sentences-9781567927320","title":"Life Sentences","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"O'Callaghan writes with a bright, enlivening emotional palette and a penetrating eye for the details of family history. A deeply felt and distinctive work by a real craftsman.\"--Kirkus (starred review) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe sweeping story of one Irish family's fight for survival makes for an unforgettable tale of love, abandonment, hunger, and redemption. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt just sixteen, Nancy Martin leaves the small island of Cape Clear for the mainland, the only member of her family to survive the effects of the Great Famine. Finding work in a grand house on the edge of Cork City, she is irrepressibly drawn to the charismatic gardener Michael Egan, sparking a love affair and a devastating chain of events that continues to unfold over three generations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpanning more than a century, Billy O'Callaghan's weaves together the journey of an Irish family determined against all odds to be free. In 1920, Nancy's son Jer has lived through battles of his own as a soldier in the Great War. Now drunk in a jail cell, he struggles to piece together where he has come from, and who he wants to be. And in the early 1980s, Jer's youngest child Nellie is nearing the end of her life in a council house just steps away from her childhood home; remembering the night when she and her family stole back something that was rightfully theirs, she imagines what lies ahead for those who will survive her. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis moving portrait of life in Ireland is set in the village where O'Callaghan's family has lived for generations, and is partly based on stories told by his parents and grandparents. His writing is imbued with lived experience and hard-earned truths, creating a novel so rich in life and empathy it is impossible to let go of his characters. An ambitious and lyrical family saga, this novel confirms Billy O'Callaghan as one of the finest living Irish writers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e David R. Godine Publisher\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/05\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781567927320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 200\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/15\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/24\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2022 pg. 25\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Billy O'Callaghan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41596167585973,"sku":"9781567927320","price":21.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_f48b0e37-bb87-42be-88d3-deb450f2578a.jpg?v=1644333943","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/life-sentences-9781567927320","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}