Colm Tóibín presents a striking vision of the Virgin Mary as a mother wracked with grief, who is bitterly mourning the brutal death of her son.

For Mary, her son has been lost to the world, and now, living in exile and in fear, she tries to piece together the memories of the events that led to his violent death. To her he was a vulnerable figure, surrounded by men who could not be trusted, living in a time of turmoil and change. As her life and her suffering begin to acquire the resonance of myth, Mary struggles to break the silence surrounding what she knows to have happened.

Shortlisted
The Man Booker Prize 2013
Published by
Viking
Publication date
Colm Tóibín

Colm Tóibín

About the Author

Colm Tóibín is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic and poet. He was born in County Wexford, Ireland.
More about Colm Tóibín

Other nominated books by Colm Tóibín

Brooklyn
The Master
The Blackwater Lightship