WINNER OF THE 1970 BOOKER PRIZE
‘And so at the Majestic everything returned to the way it had been before. The gleaming tiles became dulled. Sofas as sleek as prize cattle lost their glow.’
1919, the Majestic Hotel in Kinalough, Ireland. Haunted war veteran Major Brendan Archer arrives to marry Angela Spencer, daughter of the house. But his fiancée is strangely altered, and her family’s fortunes have suffered a spectacular decline.
The hotel’s hundreds of rooms are disintegrating; its few remaining guests thrive on rumours and games of whist; herds of cats have taken over the Imperial Bar; bamboo shoots threaten the foundations; and piglets frolic in the squash court. And outside the order of the British Empire totters, as the violence of ‘the troubles’ mounts.
‘A work of genius’ Guardian
‘And so at the Majestic everything returned to the way it had been before. The gleaming tiles became dulled. Sofas as sleek as prize cattle lost their glow.’
1919, the Majestic Hotel in Kinalough, Ireland. Haunted war veteran Major Brendan Archer arrives to marry Angela Spencer, daughter of the house. But his fiancée is strangely altered, and her family’s fortunes have suffered a spectacular decline.
The hotel’s hundreds of rooms are disintegrating; its few remaining guests thrive on rumours and games of whist; herds of cats have taken over the Imperial Bar; bamboo shoots threaten the foundations; and piglets frolic in the squash court. And outside the order of the British Empire totters, as the violence of ‘the troubles’ mounts.
‘A work of genius’ Guardian
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Reviews
A work of genius
Troubles has everything: great story, compelling characters, believable dialogue and big ideas. It's a book good enough to win the Booker in any year. Not just 1970.
No finer work has ever been written about this transitional period in Irish history: it remains a landmark in 20th-century Irish literature, and one that deserves to win The One And Only Great Retrospective Booker
'I can't praise this book enough. It's a good rule that reviewers should be forbidden from using the word "genius"...But it's hard to know what else to say when faced with a book like Troubles. There's no avoiding it. JG Farrell was a genius.'
One of the finest novels of the past 50 years
Like Fawlty Towers written by Evelyn Waugh
meaty and magnificent¿He [Farrell] is a master at controlling pace, and his writing is satisfyingly solid. He is capable of the most vigorous farce, and then he will bring things to the knife edge of tragedy¿a fine and fitting winner.
Farrell's vision and voice are unique, inimitable
Funny, sad and beautifully written; prescient, wise, original and unexpectedly eccentric
No finer work has ever been written about this transitional period in Irish history: it remains a landmark in 20th-century Irish literature, and one that deserves to win The One And Only Great Retrospective Booker.
Troubles stands up at every stage. It has a fine beginning and a brilliant ending, and is sustained throughout by this wit, laughter and intelligence.
Poignant, meticulously observed, often hilarious, it is one of the finest novels of the past 50 years.
It's funny, sad and beautifully written; it's prescient, wise, original and unexpectedly eccentric. Vote JG, I say. Or even better, just read him.
Like Fawlty Towers written by Evelyn Waugh
TROUBLES has everything: great story, compelling characters, believable dialogue and big ideas. It's a book good enough to win the Booker in any year. Not just 1970.
