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The Little Red Chairs

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The Little Red Chairs

By: Edna O'Brien
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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Summary

When a wanted war criminal masquerading as a healer settles in a small west coast Irish village, the community are in thrall. One woman, Fidelma McBride, falls under his spell, and in this searing novel Edna O'Brien charts the consequence of that fatal attraction.

This is a story about love, the artifice of evil and the terrible necessity of accountability in our shattered, damaged world.

©2015 Edna O’Brien (P)2016 W F Howes Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction
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Critic reviews

"The great Edna O'Brien has written her masterpiece." (Philip Roth)
" The Little Red Chairs is a daring invention set at the bloody crossroads where worlds collide: savage, tender and true." (John Banville)
All stars
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Started off well but lost me soon with its change of focus. I understand the point of this but I couldn't settle and longed to skip forward
Great performance by the narrator though

Not for me

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Outstanding narration throughout.

This starts off as a rural tale set in Ireland. Edna O’ Brian’s writing is so understated it’s difficult to see what’s coming as the story moves to violation and genocide. I enjoyed the complex narrative and it’s a thought provoking tale of betrayal, loss, love and deeper issues, based on fact, involving war crimes.

Challenging issue explored with sensitivity

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This book went right under my skin, Juliet Stevenson is a brilliant reader, all these different characters she portrayed with her voice.
However, the book should come with a warning that it contains extrem violent descriptions ... I had to skip chapters.

The Little Red Chairs

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This is a very moving story of trauma, love, loss and deception, told from the perspective of a woman who, unwittingly, falls in love with the 'Beast of Sarajevo'. There are other voices which speak of their trauma and its lasting damage. Is the 'Beast' a man of great charm, a healer with warmth and compassion, or is he the hate filled monster, responsible for the brutal deaths of many people in Sarajevo? Wonderfully read by Juliet Stevenson.

Sarajevo

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The attempts at accents were really hard to bear and bordered on racial parodies. The pronunciation of Irish words were also off. I suspect it’s better in it’s written rather than audio version.

Terrible accents

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