Shadowplay

Dazzling...the panache and subtlety of his prose perfectly match that gusto and creative finesse of the High Victorian world his novel wonderfully evokes * Sunday Times * A novel I'd recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story... Delicious and clever late-Victorian gothic -- James Naughtie * Radio Times * An ingenious novel... O'Connor's work is hugely impressive and utterly haunting * Sunday Mirror * Joseph O'Connor is a very great artist and storyteller. The quotient of enjoyment in his extraordinary new novel is stupendous -- Sebastian Barry A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly - at times, astonishingly - a story of transience, loss and true loyalty -- Sadie Jones * Guardian * A work of Gothic splendour...O'Connor's writing is always intensely atmospheric. As a romp through Ripper-ravaged London, Shadowplay is mightily entertaining. But as a meditation on hidden sexuality, it is powerful and poignant * Literary Review * A fabulous novel that tells the otherwise largely unknown story of the man behind Gothic horror's most enduring character... The narrative stretches decades, and throbs with theatrical vigour. This is writing at its most immersive, full of Dickensian pulchritude and pathos. It should, and might well, win prizes -- Nick Duerden * i * A rollicking tale... an affecting depiction of artistic and social emancipation... O'Connor's well-researched theatrical caper offers total immersion in a romantic, lost London... be nourished by a colourful tale of secret love and public performance * The Times * There are few living writers who can take us back in time so assuredly, with such sensual density, through such gorgeous sentences. Joseph O'Connor is a wonder, and Shadowplay is a triumph. -- Peter Carey, twice winner of the Booker Prize Gorgeously dark... Shadowplay is an accomplished, compelling read * Herald * A hugely entertaining and atmospheric novel, one can almost smell the greasepaint -- Deborah Moggach A mesmerising read, meticulously researched, with beautiful prose...O'Connor has the gift of conjuring up any location....Wonderful suspense a la Wilkie Collins * Sunday Independent * Wonderful. The writing is beautiful. -- Derek Jacobi This is a marvellous novel: at once freewheeling, exultant, fully inhabiting the momentary, transitory nature of its world; and intensely aware of the limitations - too frequently self-imposed - of our painfully fleeting lives. * Dublin Review of Books * One of Ireland's finest writers -- John Boyne * Washington Post * Three famous Victorians carry this sparkling historical novel: Sir Henry Irving, the great actor-manager; Ellen Terry, his leading lady; and Bram Stoker, the young Irishman who worked for Irving as a theatre manager before writing Dracula. From their entangled lives Joseph O'Connor weaves a story of love and loyalty, rich in wit and imagination. -- 100 Sizzling Summer Books * Daily Mail * One of the best writers working today -- Alice Walker In gorgeous sentences, Joseph O'Connor captures the essence of three very different artistic temperaments in all their nobility and glorious absurdity -- Jake Kerridge * Sunday Express * Joseph O'Connor is the only writer I know who can make you laugh and cry in the same sentence. -- Lawrence Norfolk Joseph O'Connor is the only writer I know who can make you laugh and cry in the same sentence. -- Lawrence Norfolk Magnificent -- John Boyne A virtuoso act of literary ventriloquism. Shadowplay is funny, smart, tender, wise and written with inch-perfect precision -- Colum McCann A thrilling novel, exquisitely contrived to show the characters whose loves and lives inspired Dracula. A great tribute, and a work of art. Deeply affecting. -- Essie Fox As fascinating and memorable as anything O'Connor has done. The writing, too, as thrilling as ever. A great writer performing Olympian literary storytelling. -- Sir Bob Geldof O'Connor is a true master of historical fiction,

Joseph O'Connor was born in Dublin. His books include Cowboys and Indians, Inishowen, Star of the Sea (American Library Association Award, Irish Post Award for Fiction, France's Prix Millepages, Italy's Premio Acerbi, Prix Madeleine Zepter for European novel of the year), Redemption Falls, Ghost Light (Dublin One City One Book Novel 2011) and Shadowplay (Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, Costa Novel of the Year shortlist). His fiction has been translated into forty languages. He received the 2012 Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature and in 2014 he was appointed Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. www.josephoconnorauthor.com