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Description
The O'Briens follows the family from The Law of Dreams two generations later: Joe O'Brien is coming of age in a new century in remote Pontiac County, Quebec, with his brothers and sisters by his side.
Their father has abandoned the family and died in the South African war; their frail mother has remarried the abusive and lecherous Mick Heaney. Joe and his siblings escape the poverty and violence of the Pontiac, but as Joe travels the continent, building an empire and a bright young family with his wife, Iseult, he is never quite able to leave his past behind.
Told from the perspectives of Joe, Iseult, and their children and spanning the construction of the Canadian railroad as well as both world wars, this novel mirrors the scope and sweep of what Wilfrid Laurier calls "Canada's Century." Tragic, romantic, and as vivid as the novel that preceded it, The O'Briens is an epic of great heart, imagination, and narrative force.
Contributor Notes
Peter Behrens’s first novel The Law of Dreams won the Governor-General’s Award for Fiction, and has been published in nine languages. His collection of short stories, Travelling Light, was reissued in 2013, and his second novel, The O’Briens, was published in 2011. His stories and essays have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Tin House, Brick, Best Canadian Stories, Best Canadian Essays, and many anthologies. Behrens is a native of Montreal and was educated at Lower Canada College, Concordia University, and McGill. He has held a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing at Stanford University and was a Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He lives in Maine and Texas.
Awards
- Commended, New York Times Editors' Choice
Editorial Reviews
Brimming with complex and nuanced characters, Behrens's second novel lives up to the expectations set by his award-winning debut.
— Winnipeg Free Press
. . . tragic and warm . . . lush with Canadian history . . .
— The Coast
. . . Behrens does an excellent job of exposing the particulars of life . . . extremely moving . . .
— Edmonton Journal
A truly wonderful writer who will no doubt be dominating the literary award nomination lists this fall.
— Montreal Gazette
Moments of grace and romance are rocked by cruel words and violence in this epic, a piece of rough beauty itself.
— Publishers Weekly
[The O'Briens] immerses readers in a river of narrative that seems less like fiction than lived experience ... striking and heartfelt ...
— Daily Beast
. . . a distinctly 20th-century -- and decidedly Canadian -- family epic . . . pitch-perfect.
— National Post
. . . a forward-looking novel . . . you want to turn the pages because the people become so real . . . but underlying the story is a nuance of tragedy and old sadness.
— Kitchener-Waterloo Record
Time and time again, Behrens proves himself a first-rate seanchaí, the Irish term for a storyteller, by bringing the O’Brien clan to life on the page.
— Washington Post
The O'Briens is a major accomplishment.
— New York Times
Behrens' fine writing moves readers from one decade to the next, and we become more attached to each of the characters with each passing year . . . a sweeping Canadian saga that will carry readers along.
— Vancouver Sun
... Behrens deliver[s] beautifully ... thrilling and poignant.
— Montreal Review of Books
Illuminating ... an epic along the lines of Middlesex in the way it follows a family through time and examines the results of their actions ... A brooding novel, engrossing in its scope and detail, The O’Briens keeps sight of the family’s personal stories amid the larger history of much of the twentieth century.
— Booklist
Behren's characters are painfully real . . . the battle of the O'Brien family is as legendary and epic as any war.
— Telegraph-Journal
...unforgettable...
— Vogue
... fine storytelling ...
— Seattle Times
"Behrens is a beautiful writer ... this is a novel whose vision affirms life in the very best ways."
— The Arts Fuse
[The O'Briens] is impressive in its scope and ambitious in its goals. Behrens's writing is always tight, and some of his descriptions are flat-out jaw-dropping.
— Globe and Mail
"Peter Behrens is a master of the art of storytelling."
— Chalk the Sun Blog
For sheer reading satisfaction, The O'Briens is a treat waiting for everyone who read and enjoyed The Law of Dreams.
— Owen Sound Sun Times
Out of print
This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.
