Away: A Novel [Paperback]

Jane Urquhart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1995

Esther O'Malley Robertson gazes out at Lake Ontario from her home for perhaps the last time. This house, highly charged with memories and history, is part of a landscape that is now being swallowed by industry. The story of her family's past has its beginnings in the 1840s off the northern coast of Ireland, where a young woman embraced a semiconscious sailor who had washed in with the tide, and later, with her husband and young son, fled the famine for Canada. Jane Urquhart imbues the past with a shimmering clarity as she takes us from the harsh Irish coast to the quarantine stations at Grosse Isle and the barely hospitable land of the Canadian Shield; from the flourishing town of Port Hope to the flooded streets of Montreal; from Ottawa to a large-windowed house at the edge of a Great Lake. The characters who inhabit the world of this novel include Liam O'Malley, a down-to-earth, first-generation Irish-Canadian farmer; his sister, Eileen, whose passionate idealism involves her, unwillingly, in a devastating act of betrayal; the eccentric Sedgewick brothers, Anglo-Irish landlords who tinker with science, art, and poetry; Exodus Crow, an extraordinary individual of mixed native blood; Thomas Doherty, a man known for his wind machines and his ability to charm skunks; Aidan Lanighan, a charismatic Irish nationalist with an obsessive interest in D'Arcy McGee; and Mary O'Malley, whose unusual love of a man leads her to a strange but inevitable fate in a new land. Away is a graceful and moving novel that unites the personal and the political and explores the most private, often darkest corners of our emotions where the things that root us to ourselves endure. Written in sensuous, evocativeprose, Away will confirm Jane Urquhart as one of the most accomplished novelists of our day.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Like a heartbreakingly romantic ballad of hard times, unrequited love, and lamentation, Urquhart's third novel (following Changing Heaven, LJ 3/15/93) is an entrancing saga of a family who must leave Ireland for Canada during the potato famine of the 1840s. As a young girl in Ireland, Mary is taken "away" to the faeries after a young sailor (a faerie-daemon) whom she rescued dies in her arms. Although she does eventually marry, have a family, and start a new life in the Canadian wilderness, Mary still hears the call of her sailor and finally leaves her family to live the rest of her life alone by a lake. Her daughter Eileen, in turn, falls in love with an Irish nationalist whose passion is only for his cause; she spends the rest of her life "away" in thoughts of him. Urquhart beguiles the reader with a cast of lovable eccentric characters in a wonderfully surreal world that includes a talking crow and a man who can charm skunks "away." An extraordinary achievement; highly recommended.
Patricia Ross, Westerville P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The Irish who migrated to Canada fleeing the potato famine had an impact and history well worth noting. Urquhart begins with the story of Mary, a maiden who becomes enamored, perhaps possessed by the spirit of a sailor who dies in her arms on the beach of her Irish homeland. Mary and her earthbound husband, Brian, migrate during the famine at the urging and expense of their landlord. It is this same landlord who appears in the New World to give their son, Liam, and his sister, Eileen, a new start after their father's death. Mary's fey heritage is passed on to her daughter and great-granddaughter Esther O'Malley Robertson, raised in Canada on the shores of Lake Ontario. Urquhart's blending of the spiritual and political sides of the Irish makes an amazing story told in a language that is melodious and laden with complex imagery. At the same time, her characters are unique people filled with the laughter and brooding legacy quintessential to the Irish. Denise Perry Donavin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140249265
• ISBN-13: 978-0140249262
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful language, June 25, 2002

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"blackdogbook" (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Away: A Novel (Paperback)

In this acclaimed novel by Canadian writer Jane Urquhart, the story is second to the language used. Urquhart writes with such grace and mastery that one is often compelled to re-read large sections just to absorb her words.

The story is very compelling, about an Irish family who immigrate from Ulster during the Great Famine. But there have been many other books written on this topic, none of which are remotely as enjoyable to read. It is the unique strength of Urquhart's voice that makes this novel so fine.

A novel certainly for any reader interested in Irish and Irish-Canadian heritage, but also very worth reading by any who enjoy good language and style.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intricate weaving, December 10, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Away: A Novel (Paperback)

Extending backwards and forwards in time a hundred and forty years, Away, a novel by Canadian writer Jane Urquhart, begins with one of the female characters discovering the shoreline near her Irish home has been changed forever. Stones resembling new potatoes have replaced the sandy beach, a grim joke in this impoverished area. Then "thousands of cabbages nudged one another towards shore," followed by many silver teapots and barrels of whiskey, a semi-conscious young man the final offering. Thus begins this amazing tale, weaving together the lives of four generations of women, Ireland and and Canada, past and present, land and sea. Water becomes a character in itself, each of these women drawn to it like lemmings, lives unfolding near a stream that ebbs and flows with the seasons, a Great Lake, and the Atlantic Ocean. For readers who appreciate lyrical writing, a compelling story, and subtly evoked magic realism, this book is for you

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provoking,lyrical prose that winds through generations, December 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Away: A Novel (Paperback)

After reading "The Underpainter" by the same author I was urged to read "Away". This book completely engulfed me and carried me away to Ireland; to the lonely, wind swept, rocky beaches, the cold, hungry nights, and into the small, mean cottages. Jane Urquhart weaves a tapestry of language that forms vivid images in the mind of every reader . We are transported onto the coffin ships to make the long voyage to Canada, that most unforgiving of lands. Following the lives of Mary and Brian and their children, as seen through the lense of memory, was my daily gift to myself. I mourned their loss when I finished reading the book, but can still bring them to life as I continue to reflect upon this poetic novel.