Bookseller Reviews
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Vital
A novel both beautiful and urgently, vitally important. After reading I feel utterly defeated, thoroughly depressed, and pathetically thankful. This is ast... READ MORE
Booker Prize winner 2023
Booker Prize 2023 winner.
An intense read, I would liken it to Orwell 1984,difficult to belive it's been set in Ireland, at an indeterminate date.
The ru... READ MORE
Engrossing, brutal and timely - required reading.
I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to say that this book broke me. I can't remember the last time I became so deeply engrossed in a story, so engag... READ MORE
A timely masterpiece
Paul Lynch has written an important and timely piece of fiction which almost urges the reader to look outside their window and compare the world they see t... READ MORE
This book will stay with you
I’ve allowed my thoughts on this one to mull for a bit before sitting down to write this review, since it is one of those books that continues to occupy yo... READ MORE
Synopsis
The explosive literary sensation: a mother faces a terrible choice as Ireland slides into totalitarianism
On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.
Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and when her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling.
How far will she go to save her family? And what – or who – is she willing to leave behind?
Exhilarating, terrifying and propulsive, Prophet Song is a work of breathtaking originality, offering a devastating vision of a country at war and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Oneworld Publications
- ISBN: 9780861545896
- Number of pages: 320
- Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 23 mm
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allUncomfortable. Unbearable. Utterly Compelling.
If it wasn't for the Booker Prize I would probably not have read this - and I so pleased I have. So far my absolute front runner for winning the Booker 202... READ MORE
Booker Longlisted 2023
Thank you to the publishers for this early review copy. I knew straight away this was going to appeal to me but I admit like too many other books it had hu... READ MORE
Is this Fiction? It could so easily become reality..........be vigilant!
I really got lost in this book and heavily invested in the wonderfully observed characters. I kept thinking that this could have been set in so many places... READ MORE
Devastating
A truly powerful exploration of how horrifying the turning of the screws in an authoritarian regime would, could, be, with clear parallels between the nove... READ MORE
There but for the grace of God
This is the most phenomenal book I’ve read in a long time. The author has done a remarkable job of creating a story that conveys the fragility we all live ... READ MORE
Excellent but disturbing story
Both my husband and I have now read this book. It was a difficult read - but we could not put it down!!
It is topical, frightening, disturbing but total... READ MORE
A worthy booker winner
With fond memories of 1984 I was eager the read Prophet song. This is a dark sombre tale of what it could be like to live in a state which no longer allows... READ MORE
Not that good
Banal politics trying to make a case for the universal nature of the disasters that have overcome other countries and saying that nowhere is safe from thes... READ MORE
Haunting and eye opening
I found this book amazing. It’s an examination of motherhood, parenting and how far an individual will go.
It also explores how the system goes wrong a... READ MORE
Tedious
I so looked forward to reading this. A ‘modern day 1984’ set in Ireland - a country and its people I have loved - as if to say if this can happen here it c... READ MORE
Masterful writing
Paul Lynch shows in Prophet Song how masterful quality writing can paint the reader into another world. In this case the story of a mother, Eilish Stack, t... READ MORE
Food for thought
The book was action-packed and thought provoking. I am not so sure about the “stream of consciousness” style of writing. I think that it has been done. It ... READ MORE
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