Talking About O'Dwyer (Panther S.) [Paperback]

C. K. Stead (Author)

Book Description

Series: Panther S. | Publication Date: February 19, 2003

Two Oxford dons, Newall and Winterstoke, attend their colleague's funeral. Afterward Newall reveals the secret that O'Dwyer took to the grave. During the Battle of Crete in World War II a Maori soldier died in circumstances that led to his family placing a curse on O'Dwyer. How did the soldier die? Why was O'Dwyer responsible? Gradually Newall tells all. But as he moves in space and time—from his childhood in New Zealand to Crete, from Oxford to Croatia, reflecting on wartime and peacetime, and the generations that have lived through both—it becomes clear that the story is not just O'Dwyer's, but Newall's as well.

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . Stead . . . writes beautifully . . . his exact use and elegant arrangement of language makes this book a particular pleasure to read." --Jessica Mann, The Sunday Telegraph

"Stead's plot is developed with prodigious skill. At the level of storytelling, Talking about O'Dwyer is a tour de force. . ." --Peter Porter, The Independent [London]
-- Review

"Talking about O'Dwyer is a tour de force . . . Stead writes with complete assurance." -- Peter Porter, The Independent [London]

From the Publisher

It is late summer, late century, Oxford. Donovan O'Dwyer is dead, but for his fellow expatriate Mike Newall their shared past is still hauntingly alive.

Two Oxford dons, Newall and Winterstoke, attend their colleague's funeral. Afterward Newall reveals the secret that O'Dwyer took to the grave. During the Battle of Crete in World War II a Maori soldier died in circumstances that led to his family placing a curse on O'Dwyer. How did the soldier die? Why was O'Dwyer responsible? Gradually Newall tells all. But as he moves in space and time -- from his childhood in New Zealand to Crete, from Oxford to Croatia, reflecting on wartime and peacetime, and the generations that have lived through both -- it becomes clear that the story is not just O'Dwyer's, but Newall's as well.

C. K. Stead was Professor of English at the University of Auckland, and is well known among students of literature for The New Poetic, his study of Yeats, Eliot, and the Georgian poets. He is the author of nine novels and ten collections of poetry.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK (February 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860468365
• ISBN-13: 978-1860468360
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,814,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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