Kate O'Brien: A Writing Life

Kate O'Brien (1897-1974) was one of the most important Irish writers of the twentieth century, widely read, accessible and popular in Britain, Ireland and the United States. She wrote for such respected literary journals as the Spectator, and the Irish Times; she broadcast regularly for the BBC and adapted her best-selling novels for the stage in London and on Broadway. One novel, That Lady, even became a Hollywood movie. She was a regular Book Club and Book Society choice, proof of her fame with the general reading public. In the course of a hugely productive writing life, Kate O'Brien travelled, lectured, produced novels, wrote literary essays, reviewed novels and was broadcast on the radio and on television. In this new biography by Eibhear Walshe, he traces her life from Limerick, to Spain, America London and argues that, in fact, Kate O'Brien was a subversive and a pioneer for women's writing. She created novels that were deceptively traditional in form but radical in conten